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The new discipline of ecohydraulics considers the effects of water movement in aquatic ecosystems and blends ideas and techniques from aquatic ecology and engineering hydraulics. A central challenge for ecohydraulics is to reconcile differences between hydraulic engineers and ecologists in terms of the spatial and/or temporal scale of the processes that they tend to deal […]
June 19, 2017
Comments Off on Planting vegetation to stop stream bank erosion: where’s the evidence?
Increased rates of stream bank erosion and sediment movement in disturbed catchments have been attributed to changes in catchment hydrology caused by land clearing, channel modification, the trampling activities of livestock and the removal of riparian vegetation. Given that these effects are human-induced, it’s commonly assumed that they can also be reversed by human intervention, […]
June 19, 2017
Comments Off on Human impacts on ecological connectivity
Ecological connectivity – the exchange of organisms between habitat patches or subpopulations – has an influence on many key processes, including population dynamics, nutrient flux, disease transmission, species invasions, food-web interactions, genetic isolation and the maintenance of biodiversity. A recent study reviewed ways in which graph theory has been used to investigate how human activities […]
March 27, 2017
Comments Off on Dealing with river complexity
Hydromorphology is a relatively new field that deals with the structure of hydrological systems and changes in their form over time. Many such changes are influenced by human-induced pressures. Realistic attempts to conceptualize hydromorphological forms and processes reflect the fact that rivers are complex multidimensional systems with longitudinal, lateral, vertical and temporal components, as well […]
March 27, 2017
Comments Off on How fish negotiate culverts
While culverts are designed to facilitate the movement of water by allowing it to flow under roads or other obstructions, they can place physiological and/or behavioural restrictions on the movements of fish. Although several studies have considered the implications of culvert design for fish passage, surprisingly few have tried to identify the factors that influence […]
June 1, 2016
Comments Off on Green covers improve drainage channels
In urban environments, the ubiquity of impervious surfaces increases rainfall runoff and the risk of flash flooding. These problems can be addressed by widening and deepening drainage canals, but usually at the risk of further habitat degradation. As a result, there ‘s increasing interest in low-impact environmentally-sensitive designs that simultaneously improve flood control and ecosystem […]
June 1, 2016
Comments Off on How environmentally-damaging are run-of-river hydropower systems?
Hydropower generation typically involves the creation of large dams for the storage and release of water, which can have serious adverse effects on riverine environments. However, growing pressures on governments to meet renewable energy targets have stimulated interest in small-scale hydropower systems, especially run-of-river schemes, which use the flow within a river channel and operate […]
June 19, 2017
Comments Off on Erasing the boundaries