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The potential natural vegetation of large river floodplains - from dynamic to static equilibrium
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Orientador(es)
Resumo(s)
The potential natural vegetation (PNV) is a useful benchmark for the restoration of large river floodplains because
very few natural reference reaches exist. Expert-based approaches and different types of ecological models
(static and dynamic) are commonly used for its estimation despite the conceptual differences they imply. For
natural floodplains a static concept of PNV is not reasonable, as natural disturbances cause a constant resetting of
succession. However, various forms of river regulation have disrupted the natural dynamics of most large
European rivers for centuries. Therefore, we asked whether the consideration of succession dynamics and time
dependent habitat turnover are still relevant factors for the reconstruction of the PNV.
To answer this we compared the results of a simulation of the vegetation succession (1872–2016) of a segment
of the upper Rhine river after regulation (damming, straightening and bank protection) to different statistic
and expert-based modelling approaches for PNV reconstruction. The validation of the different PNV estimation
methods against a set of independent reference plots and the direct comparison of their results revealed very
similar performances. We therefore conclude that due to a lack of large disturbances, the vegetation of regulated
large rivers has reached a near-equilibrium state with the altered hydrologic regime and that a static perception
of its PNV may be justified. Consequently, statistical models seem to be the best option for its reconstruction
since they need relatively few resources (data, time, expert knowledge) and are reproducible
Descrição
Article in Press
Palavras-chave
potential natural vegetation PNV riparian vegetation floodplain modelling large rivers
Contexto Educativo
Citação
Konstantin Ochs, et al., Journal of Hydro-environment Research, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jher.2020.01.005
Editora
International Association for Hydro-environment Engineering and Research