TY - JOUR
T1 - Effective restoration measures in river‐floodplain ecosystems: Lessons learned from the ‘Wilde Mulde’ project
AU - Schulz‐Zunkel, Christiane
AU - Seele‐Dilbat, Carolin
AU - Anlanger, Christine
AU - Baborowski, Martina
AU - Bondar‐Kunze, Elisabeth
AU - Brauns, Mario
AU - Gapinski, Cedric M.
AU - Gründling, Ralf
AU - von Haaren, Christina
AU - Hein, Thomas
AU - Henle, Klaus
AU - Junge, Frank W.
AU - Kasperidus, Hans D.
AU - Koll, Katinka
AU - Kretz, Lena
AU - Rast, Georg
AU - Schnauder, Ingo
AU - Scholz, Mathias
AU - Schrenner, Heiko
AU - Sendek, Agnieszka
AU - Sprössig, Claudia
AU - Tavares, Claudia Nogueira
AU - Vieweg, Michael
AU - Tümpling, Wolf
AU - Weitere, Markus
AU - Wirth, Christian
AU - Wunsch, Tobias
AU - Dziock, Frank
N1 - Funding Information:
The project ‘Wilde Mulde—Restoration of a dynamic riverine landscape in Central Germany’ (funding label: 01LC1322B‐F) was funded by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) within the framework of the Federal Programme on Biological Diversity with funds from the Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). We would like to thank the staff of the Middle Elbe Biosphere Reserve, the State Agency for Flood Protection and Water Management Saxony‐Anhalt (LHW), the city of Dessau‐Roßlau, and the district of Anhalt‐Bitterfeld for their continuous support during the fieldwork, the coordination of the nature conservation permits for the research work and the data provided. Furthermore, we would like to thank the managers and farmers of the study areas for their cooperation. Many thanks also to the departments Water Analytics and Chemometrics as well as Analytical Chemistry at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research‐UFZ for the analysis of a large number of samples during the project and to Sarah Gwillym‐Margianto for the linguistic review of this article. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.
PY - 2022/4/5
Y1 - 2022/4/5
N2 - Over the last 40 years, a growing number of restoration projects have been implemented to improve the ecological conditions of highly degraded rivers and their floodplains. Despite considerable investment in these projects, information is still limited about the effectiveness and the success of such river restoration measures, mainly due to a lack of standardised and interdisciplinary assessment approaches. During the project ‘Wilde Mulde—Restoration of a dynamic riverine landscape in Central Germany’, we implemented hydromorphological restoration measures (installation of large wood, removal of rip-rap, reconnection of a former river side-arm) along a lowland river in Central Germany. We carried out intensive scientific monitoring of biodiversity, hydromorphology, ecosystem functions and services, as well as socio-economic aspects. A Before/After-Control/Impact (BACI) design was used to identify the spatial and temporal effects of the restoration measures and to distinguish them from changes caused by background variation. For this, we used a comprehensive set of indicators, including abiotic (flow velocity, diversity of riverbed topography, and flow resistance), biological (ecosystem respiration, macroinvertebrates, fish, carabids, vegetation, and birds) and socio-economic (acceptance and public awareness) indicators as well as the ecosystem service indicator aesthetic quality of the landscape. To meet the inherent challenges of such a large-scale field experiment, like unpredictable environmental conditions, we used an experimental approach that allowed us to demonstrate a measurable success of the implemented restoration measures. The majority of the abiotic and some of the biological and socio-economic indicators at the restored sites approached values of a natural reference site while already deviating from values of a nonnatural reference site two years after restoration. In addition to the applied interdisciplinary approach, multiple scales of field investigations and data analyses are essential as key components for evaluating successful river and floodplain restoration projects.
AB - Over the last 40 years, a growing number of restoration projects have been implemented to improve the ecological conditions of highly degraded rivers and their floodplains. Despite considerable investment in these projects, information is still limited about the effectiveness and the success of such river restoration measures, mainly due to a lack of standardised and interdisciplinary assessment approaches. During the project ‘Wilde Mulde—Restoration of a dynamic riverine landscape in Central Germany’, we implemented hydromorphological restoration measures (installation of large wood, removal of rip-rap, reconnection of a former river side-arm) along a lowland river in Central Germany. We carried out intensive scientific monitoring of biodiversity, hydromorphology, ecosystem functions and services, as well as socio-economic aspects. A Before/After-Control/Impact (BACI) design was used to identify the spatial and temporal effects of the restoration measures and to distinguish them from changes caused by background variation. For this, we used a comprehensive set of indicators, including abiotic (flow velocity, diversity of riverbed topography, and flow resistance), biological (ecosystem respiration, macroinvertebrates, fish, carabids, vegetation, and birds) and socio-economic (acceptance and public awareness) indicators as well as the ecosystem service indicator aesthetic quality of the landscape. To meet the inherent challenges of such a large-scale field experiment, like unpredictable environmental conditions, we used an experimental approach that allowed us to demonstrate a measurable success of the implemented restoration measures. The majority of the abiotic and some of the biological and socio-economic indicators at the restored sites approached values of a natural reference site while already deviating from values of a nonnatural reference site two years after restoration. In addition to the applied interdisciplinary approach, multiple scales of field investigations and data analyses are essential as key components for evaluating successful river and floodplain restoration projects.
KW - Wilde Mulde
KW - floodplain
KW - indicators
KW - restoration
KW - river
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85125640958&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/iroh.202102086
DO - 10.1002/iroh.202102086
M3 - Article
SN - 1434-2944
VL - 107
SP - 9
EP - 21
JO - International Review of Hydrobiology
JF - International Review of Hydrobiology
IS - 1-2
ER -