The river restoration 'ecological toolbox': simultaneously examining biomonitoring indices to guide catchment management strategies

近几十年来，淡水生态系统生物多样性的显著减少促使河流恢复工作激增。然而，修复往往会带来适度的生态效益。因此，迫切需要能够确定危及生态系统健康的关键压力(S)的工具，并帮助确定恢复后生态恢复的可能性。英国开发的大型无脊椎动物生物监测工具可以帮助解决这一紧迫需求，因为它们表征和量化了不同人为应激因素的生态影响--包括富营养化、水流状况变化和细微沉积物压力。然而，很少有研究同时审查多个生物监测指标的反应，以指导可持续的河流恢复战略。这一博士学位将通过开发和测试一个“生态工具箱”来解决这一研究空白，该工具箱可以识别主要应激源(S)，强调河流生态系统以及在不同恢复措施后促进生态恢复的可能性。博士将利用英国历史和当代的河流恢复项目，在不同的空间尺度上量化大型无脊椎动物群落对不同干预措施的反应。这将使人们更好地了解生态机制和大型无脊椎动物群落对不同河流恢复活动的反应，并强调何时何地采取了有效措施。这些证据将被用来进一步完善和改进生态工具箱及其预测可持续河流恢复干预措施的能力。

Significant reductions in the biodiversity of freshwater ecosystems have prompted a surge in river restoration efforts in recent decades. However, restoration has often delivered modest ecological benefits. Therefore, tools that can identify the key pressure(s) compromising ecosystem health and help identify the likelihood of ecological recovery following restoration are urgently required. Macroinvertebrate biomonitoring tools developed in the UK could help address this pressing need as they characterise and quantify the ecological effects of different anthropogenic stressors - including eutrophication, flow regime alterations and fine sediment pressures. However, little research has examined the response of multiple biomonitoring indices simultaneously to inform sustainable river restoration strategies. This PhD will address this research gap by developing and testing an 'ecological toolbox' that identifies primary stressor(s) stressing river ecosystems and the likelihood of promoting ecological recovery after different restoration interventions. The PhD will draw on historic and contemporary river restoration projects across the UK to quantify macroinvertebrate communities responses to different interventions at different spatial scales. This will provide a greater causal understanding of the ecological mechanisms and macroinvertebrate community responses to different river restoration activities and highlight when and where effective measures have been implemented. This evidence will be used to further refine and improve the ecological toolbox and its ability to predict sustainable river restoration interventions.