Managing temporary streams and rivers as unique rather than second-class ecosystems
Managing temporary streams and rivers as unique rather than second-class ecosystems
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DOI：
10.1016/j.biocon.2016.12.025
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发表时间：
2017-07-01
影响因子：
5.9
通讯作者：
Ruhi, A.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Acuna, V.;Hunter, M.;Ruhi, A.
临时溪流和河流支持生物多样性，并提供宝贵的商品和服务，特别是在干旱和半干旱地区。然而，由于开发、水文形态改变和废水处理等压力因素，临时溪流和河流正在以惊人的速度退化，在全球变化的情况下，压力可能会增加。在这里，我们建议将临时溪流和河流作为一种独特的生态水文类型来管理，而不是作为永久的水道或陆地生态系统。然而，两个挑战阻碍了这一目标的实现。首先，目前关于间歇性低剂量制度和相关生物的可用数据很少。因此，临时水道的流动生态学关系在很大程度上是未知的，并且缺乏定义和监测其生态状况的适当指标。其次，临时溪流和河流的生态和社会价值往往被低估，被视为相对于永久水道的次级生态系统。为了保护临时溪流和河流，生态学家需要将它们定义为独特的生态系统和保护目标，从业者需要系统地收集这些生态系统中的生物和水文数据。在生态学、公民科学和管理的交叉点上采用创新方法，也可以通过以下方式促进它们的管理和保护：1)绘制它们的地图，2)告知人们它们的生态价值，3)保护它们免受进一步的人类威胁，4)在管理水库、污水处理厂和抽水活动时保护它们的流量状态，5)恢复物理退化的临时河段（例如，由于砾石开采和越野使用），或由于干旱严重程度加剧、改道和地下水过度使用而失去历史流量的河段。(C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd.版权所有。
Temporary streams and rivers support biodiversity and provide valuable goods and services, especially in arid and semi-arid landscapes. However, temporary streams and rivers are being degraded at alarming rates owing to development, hydromorphological alteration, and disposal of waste water, among other stressors, and pressure will likely increase under global change. Here we propose that it is key to manage temporary streams and rivers as a unique ecohydrological type and not as a permanent waterway or a terrestrial ecosystem. Nevertheless, two challenges hinder this goal. First data availability on intermittent low regimes and associated biotas is currently scarce. As a consequence, flow-ecology relationships in temporary waterways are largely unknown, and appropriate metrics to define and monitor their ecological status are missing. Second, the ecological and social values of temporary streams and rivers are often underestimated, being regarded as secondary ecosystems relative to permanent waterways. To conserve temporary streams and rivers, ecologists need to define them as unique ecosystems and conservation targets, and practitioners need to systematically collect biological and hydrological data in these ecosystems. Innovative approaches at the intersection of ecology, citizen science, and management, can also contribute to their management and conservation by: i) mapping them, ii) informing people about their ecological values, iii) safeguarding them from further human threats, iv) preserving their flow regime when managing reservoirs, wastewater treatment plants, and water abstraction activities, and v) restoring physically-degraded temporary reaches (e.g. due to gravel mining and off-road use) or reaches that have lost historical flows due to increasing drought severity, diversions, and groundwater overuse. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.