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Scale-depended effects of hydromorphology and riparian land-use on benthic invertebrates and fish: implications for large river management

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Abstract

Large river management is in increasing demand to establish the ecological quality set by sustainability-oriented legislation. However, there is still a lack of research regarding most relevant scales at which pressures should be addressed. In this study, we compared the relative effects of riparian land-cover at 16 different buffer sizes and hydromorphology at four different river lengths on benthic invertebrate (BI) and fish assemblages in large rivers. Environmental data were obtained digitally (applying GIS) on a broad range of abiotic conditions and were related to biological data using direct gradient analyses. Compared to land-cover, hydromorphology showed greater effect on BI and fish, with in-channel habitat quality characteristics explaining most biotic variability. Both assemblages were best explained by hydromorphology inventoried at the largest 5,000 m scale. We found, however, consideration of longer river segments to be more important for explaining fish variability. Riparian land-cover explained similar percentages of biotic variability across most analysed riparian buffers. Nevertheless, a significant effect of riparian length rather than width was identified. Our findings indicate that, in large rivers, hydromorphological and riparian land-cover conditions affect BI and especially fish at generally longer river segments, implying potential ecological benefits of management measures implemented at larger spatial scales.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Slovenian Research Agency and the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning of the Republic of Slovenia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Water of the Republic of Slovenia, Einspielerjeva ulica 6, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Miha Knehtl

  2. Fisheries Research Institute of Slovenia, Spodnje Gameljne 61 a, 1211, Ljubljana-Šmartno, Slovenia

    Samo Podgornik

  3. URBANZERO Institute for Holistic Environmental Management, Ltd., Selo pri Mirni 17, 8233, Mirna, Slovenia

    Gorazd Urbanič

Authors
  1. Miha Knehtl
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  2. Samo Podgornik
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  3. Gorazd Urbanič
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Correspondence to Miha Knehtl.

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Knehtl, M., Podgornik, S. & Urbanič, G. Scale-depended effects of hydromorphology and riparian land-use on benthic invertebrates and fish: implications for large river management. Hydrobiologia 848, 3447–3467 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-021-04589-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-021-04589-8

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