Spatial and temporal variability of environmental flow indicators - developing the tools for an ecologically meaningful assessment of hydrological change

尽管水文学在维持河流生态系统中的作用已经得到承认，但在充分了解河流水文学和水流动力学影响水生生态系统的方式方面，仍然存在重大的科学挑战。因此，这种相互关系如何受到城市化或水库调度等人类活动的影响仍不清楚。为了对水文变化进行具有生态意义的评估，需要采取综合办法，将水文参数的空间和时间变异性--其影响由河道的物理特征(水文地貌)--与生态反应联系起来。拟议的项目将在苏格兰相对自然的河流系统的嵌套研究谈话中，在一系列空间和时间尺度上调查选定的水文参数的可变性。还将评估这种可变性对水生生态系统的影响。除了对现有的广泛排放和生物数据集进行全面的统计分析外，还将进行补充的实验测量--排放和生态反应。此外，具有生态意义的水文参数将被应用于具有河流治理方案的流域以进行水电生产。因此，将对水文变化及其生态影响进行评估。拟议的项目将有助于检验有关河流系统的生态功能与水文变化之间关系的现有假设。这项工作将极大地促进制定保护和加强欧盟水框架指令(WFD)所要求的河流生态状况所需的指导方针。

Altfbough the role of hydrology in sustaining river ecosystems is recogised, there is still a major scientific challenge in fully understanding the way river hydrology and flow dynamics affect aquatic ecosystems. Consequently, the ways in which such interrelationships are influenced by human activities such as urbanisation or reservoir operation remain unclear. For an ecologically meaningful assessment of hydrological change, integrative approaches are needed that link the spatikal and temporal variability of hydrological parameters - whose effects are mediated by the physical characteristics of river channels (hydromorphology) - with ecological responses. The proposed project will investigate the variability of selected hydrological parameters, at a range of spatial and temporal scales, in nested research chatchments of relatively natural river systems in Scotland. The influence of such variability on aquatic ecosystems will also be assessed. In addition to a comprehensive statistical analysis of existing extensive discharge and biological data sets, complementary experimental measurements - both for discharge and ecological response - will also be conducted. Furthermore, the ecologically significant hydrological parameters will be applied in catchments with river regulation schemes for hydropower production. Thus hydrological changes and their ecological impacts will be assessed. The proposed project will contribute to the testing of existing hypotheses concerming the relationship between the ecological functioning of river systems and hydrological change. Such work will significantly contribute to the development of guidelines which are needed to protect and enhance the ecological status of rivers as required by the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD).