Modelling reference conditions for river restoration in southern Quebec

魁北克南部河流恢复的建模参考条件

• 批准号: 249828-2006
• 负责人: Campeau, Stéphane
• 金额: $ 0.84万
• 依托单位: Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2006-01-01 至 2007-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=332923
• 关键词: Modelling; reference; conditions; river; restoration

Restoration of impacted aquatic ecosystems must be achieved according to specific objectives based on the knowledge of the ecosystem's natural biological conditions. However, these restoration goals are generally not well defined, especially regarding the desired level of ecological integrity. Undisturbed sites are poorly surveyed in water quality surveillance networks, resulting in poor knowledge of reference situations and natural typology. A better understanding of the natural reference conditions would aid in the identification of target communities for stream and river restoration. The reference conditions of an aquatic ecosystem should correspond to its pristine or minimally disturbed condition established before the intensification of human activity. However, due to the diversity of natural conditions characterizing distinct environments, "one-size-fits-all" restoration goals can not be applied to all types of ecosystems. It is, therefore, imperative to classify stream reaches on the basis of watershed (basin area, geology, surficial deposits, etc) and habitat characteristics (stream width, water velocity, substrate, etc.) when establishing restoration goals specific to each type of environment. The primary long-term goal of the proposed research program is to classify and model the reference biological conditions of southern Quebec streams. The aquatic communities selected for the purposes of this program are benthic diatoms, benthic macroinvertebrates and fishes. These communities correspond to key trophic levels. The results from this research program will help to improve the bioassessment tools in use in Canada by quantifying the distance between the actual communities and the reference communities. Similar reference-condition approaches have been used in Europe for the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) and in the USA for the implementation of the Clean Water Act. Biocriteria have not yet been established in the province of Quebec. There is an urgent need to establish these reference conditions in order to fulfill the need of watershed authorities and the incoming legislations.

受影响的水生生态系统的恢复必须在了解生态系统的自然生物条件的基础上，根据具体目标实现。然而，这些恢复目标通常没有很好地界定，特别是在所需的生态完整性水平方面。在水质监测网络中，未受干扰的地点调查不力，导致对参考情况和自然类型的了解不足。更好地了解自然参照条件将有助于确定溪流和河流恢复的目标社区。水生生态系统的参考条件应与其在人类活动加剧之前确立的原始或最小干扰条件相对应。然而，由于不同环境的自然条件的多样性，“一刀切”的恢复目标不能适用于所有类型的生态系统。因此，必须根据流域(流域面积、地质、地表沉积等)和生境特征(河流宽度、水流速度、底质等)对河流河段进行分类。在建立特定于每种环境类型的恢复目标时。拟议研究计划的主要长期目标是对魁北克南部河流的参考生物条件进行分类和建模。本方案选择的水生群落为底栖硅藻、底栖大型无脊椎动物和鱼类。这些群落对应于关键的营养级别。这项研究计划的结果将有助于通过量化实际社区和参考社区之间的距离来改进加拿大使用的生物评估工具。类似的参考条件办法在欧洲用于执行《欧洲水框架指令》(WFD)，在美国用于实施《清洁水法》。生物标准尚未在魁北克省建立。迫切需要建立这些参考条件，以满足分水岭当局和即将出台的立法的需要。