Experimental methods to predict riparian vegetation responses to environmental flows in regulated rivers

This project will provide a methodology for predicting the outcome of environmental flow implementation on riparian vegetation, which is important for biodiversity and river ecosystem functions.

One of the main challenges of restoration ecology is the difficulty of predicting the outcomes of restoration actions. Ecological restoration is famously claimed to be the acid test of ecological understanding, as knowledge of processes is needed to restore degraded ecosystems, but very few restoration actions are preceded by quantitative predictions of the expected outcomes.

Specifically, the researchers will forecast the outcomes of environmental flow implementation by introducing (1) flood pulses, (2) more natural water-level variation in run-of-river impoundments, and (3) bypassed reaches. These actions have been suggested as having a large potential to improve ecological conditions in regulated rivers and are potential tools to be used in the process of relicensing Swedish hydropower.