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A multi-scale hierarchical framework for developing understanding of river behaviour to support river management

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Abstract

This paper introduces this special issue of Aquatic Sciences. It outlines a multi-scale, hierarchical framework for developing process-based understanding of catchment to reach hydromorphology that can aid design and delivery of sustainable river management solutions. The framework was developed within the REFORM (REstoring rivers FOR effective catchment Management) project, funded by the European Union’s FP7 Programme. Specific aspects of this ‘REFORM framework’ and some applications are presented in other papers in this special issue. The REFORM framework is founded on previous hierarchical frameworks, sixteen examples of which are reviewed. However, the REFORM framework has some particular properties that reflect the European context for which it was developed. The framework delineates regional landscapes into nested spatial units at catchment, landscape unit, segment, reach, geomorphic unit and finer scales. Reaches, regardless of their ‘naturalness’, are assigned to a river type based on valley confinement, planform and bed material. Indicators are quantified at each spatial scale to feed three groups of assessments. First, contemporary indicators at reach and geomorphic unit scales investigate present processes, forms and human pressures within each reach. These feed assessments of present reach hydromorphological function/alteration, including whether the reach is functioning appropriately for its type; riparian corridor function and alteration; and hydromorphological adjustment. Second, indicators at catchment to segment scales investigate water and sediment production and delivery to reaches and how these are affected by human pressures now and in the past. These are used to construct an inventory of changes over space and time. Third, historical reach and geomorphic unit scale indicators are used to construct the trajectory of reach-scale changes. Contemporary reach-scale assessments, space–time inventory, and trajectory of changes are then combined to establish how river reaches of different type, subject to different human pressures, and located in different environmental contexts behave in response to changes at all considered spatial scales. These support forecasts of the likely responses of reaches to future scenarios (e.g., changes in climate, land cover, channel interventions).

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Acknowledgments

The work leading to this paper was funded through the European Union’s FP7 programme under Grant Agreement No. 282656 (REFORM). The framework methodology was developed within the context of Deliverable D2.1 of the REFORM programme, and all partners who contributed to the development of the four parts of this deliverable are included in the author list of this paper. More details on the REFORM framework can be obtained from part 1 of Deliverable D2.1 (Gurnell et al. 2014), which is downloadable from http://www.reformrivers.eu/results/deliverables.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

    A. M. Gurnell & A. J. Henshaw

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Florence, Florence, Italy

    M. Rinaldi, B. Belletti & L. Nardi

  3. Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES), Water Resources Unit, European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), I-21027, Ispra, VA, Italy

    S. Bizzi, L. Demarchi, W. van de Bund & C. Weissteiner

  4. Christian Doppler Laboratory of Advanced Methods in River Monitoring, Modelling and Engineering, Institute of Water Management, Hydrology and Hydraulic Engineering, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    B. Blamauer, H. Habersack & M. Klösch

  5. Water Protection Department, Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale (ISPRA), Rome, Italy

    G. Braca, M. Bussettini, B. Lastoria & C. Percopo

  6. Deltares, Boussinesqweg 1, 2629 HV, Delft, The Netherlands

    A. D. Buijse, D. Hendriks & E. Mosselman

  7. Irstea Lyon, UR HHLY, Villeurbanne, France

    B. Camenen & A. Latapie

  8. Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Bolzano, Italy

    F. Comiti

  9. ETSI Montes, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    D. García de Jalón, M. González del Tánago & V. Martínez-Fernández

  10. Cranfield Water Science Institute, Cranfield University, Cranfield, UK

    R. C. Grabowski

  11. NERC-Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian, UK

    I. D. M. Gunn & M. T. O’Hare

  12. NERC-Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Maclean Building, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford, Wallingford, Oxfordshire, UK

    J. O. Mountford

  13. Department of Water Engineering, Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Warsaw, Poland

    P. Marcinkowski & T. Okruszko

  14. Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, Stevinweg 1, 2628 CN, Delft, The Netherlands

    E. Mosselman

  15. Department of Geosciences, University of Padova, Padova, Italy

    M. Palma, N. Surian & L. Ziliani

Authors
  1. A. M. Gurnell
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  2. M. Rinaldi
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  3. B. Belletti
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  4. S. Bizzi
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  5. B. Blamauer
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  6. G. Braca
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  7. A. D. Buijse
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  8. M. Bussettini
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  9. B. Camenen
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  10. F. Comiti
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  11. L. Demarchi
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  12. D. García de Jalón
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  13. M. González del Tánago
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  14. R. C. Grabowski
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  15. I. D. M. Gunn
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  16. H. Habersack
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  17. D. Hendriks
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  18. A. J. Henshaw
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  19. M. Klösch
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  20. B. Lastoria
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  21. A. Latapie
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  22. P. Marcinkowski
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  23. V. Martínez-Fernández
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  24. E. Mosselman
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  25. J. O. Mountford
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  26. L. Nardi
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  27. T. Okruszko
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  28. M. T. O’Hare
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  29. M. Palma
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  30. C. Percopo
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  31. N. Surian
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  32. W. van de Bund
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  33. C. Weissteiner
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  34. L. Ziliani
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. M. Gurnell.

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Gurnell, A.M., Rinaldi, M., Belletti, B. et al. A multi-scale hierarchical framework for developing understanding of river behaviour to support river management. Aquat Sci 78, 1–16 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-015-0424-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00027-015-0424-5

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