Krešimir Žganec, doc. dr. sc. · 2020. 5. 29. · Classification of river types River types = river sections belonging to the same ecoregion/subecoregion with similar characteristics

Krešimir Žganec, doc. dr. sc. University of Zadar

Project aim:

highlight the most outstanding freshwater/river ecosystems in Serbia

Expected results:

A map showing the most outstanding freshwater ecosystems

endorsement of this map by key environmental institutions in the region as a step towards preservation of the most outstanding freshwater ecosystems

Spatial extent of the project

Ecoregional conservation (ERC)

Ecoregion: large unit of land or water containing a geographically distinct

assemblage of species and natural communities

delineations of freshwater ecoregions are based primarily on the zoogeography of obligate aquatic species

Methodology

Methodology

Conservation targets long term persistence of all distinct river/stream habitats and

species assemblages

to preserve intact habitats and intact biotas

to ensure long term persistence of species of special concern

to preserve critical habitats for migratory species

Methodology Biodiversity surrogates lack of detailed data on spatial distribution of species and communities

we used combination of environmental classes and sub-set of taxa as biodiversity surrogates

environmental classes are river reaches characterized by river type and habitat types as well as by their condition

main assumption: river reach in very good or good condition hosts all or a majority of the biodiversity elements characteristic for its river type and habitat types within it

Methodology

Biodiversity surrogates presence of species of special concern (IUCN Red List species, endemic

and rare species) in catchment/sub-catchment will be used to supplement the physically-defined biodiversity surrogates

Delminichthys jadovensis

Knipowitschia croatica

Salmo marmoratus

Methodology Major steps 1. Selection of rivers for analysis

2. Classification

3. Condition

4. Prioritization

5. Representation analysis

6. Identification of outstanding/most important Evaluated River Reaches (ERR)

7. Consideration of connectivity (fish migration) and protection of important physical and ecological processes

EuroNatur data about planned Hydroelectric Power Plants (HPP) and hydromorphology of rivers they selected for analysis

1. River selection

129 = total number of rivers selected for analysis

9256 km of river length

358 529 km2 = sum of basin size of all selected rivers (without Danube and Sava)

2. Classification Delineation of ecoregions and subecoregions

(subregions)

Delineation of all catchments/subcatchments/sub-basins that will be analyzed

Classification of river types

Identification of main units of analysis - Evaluated River Reaches (ERR)

European Ecoregions from Water Framework Directive-Annex XI and according to Illies (1978)

River classification according to ecoregion and subecoregions

Ekoregion: Hellenic western Balkan


(subregions)




Catchments of all major rivers selected for analysis

Subbasins of all rivers selected for analysis


(subregions)




Classification of river types River types = river sections belonging to the same

ecoregion/subecoregion with similar characteristics of size of their sub-basin, altitudinal range, geology and hydrology

Size typology based on catchment area :

small: > 100 km2

medium: >100 - 1 000 km2

large: >1 000 - 4 000 km2 very large-1: 4000 - 10 000 km2 very large-2: >10 000 km2

Elevation classes: 500 m

Geological classes: calcareous siliceous organic

Službena tipologija glavne grupe

Korištena tipologija


Ecoregion No. ERR Panonska nizija 92

Dinarski zap. Balkan-Crn. sliv 209 Dinarski zap. Balkan-Jad. sliv 47 Istočni Balkan 17

Karpati 43 Total 371

River reach condition

Category Numerical value

Essentially natural 4 (×2.5=10)

Near natural 3 (7.5)

Moderate

modification

2 (5)

Major modification 1 (2.5)

Highly modified 0 (0)

Table 1: Five categories for indicator ratings (0-4 scale) and five categories (0-10) for final subindex values (in parenthesis).

Category Numerical value

Very good 10

Good 7,5

Moderate 5

Poor 2,5

Bad 0

Table 2: Categories of river condition for each subindex

Hydrology subindex Hydrological impact (HI)

sum of absolute values of differences of average monthly discharge before and after impact divided by the average annual discharge:

HI=(Σ abs(Qm,before-Qm,after)/ΣAADbefore

hydropeaking (i.e. sudden subdaily changes of flow due to impact of Hydroelectric Power Plant):

Hydrological deviation (HD) = (HI-1)

Hydrological deviation Rating

Hydrology condition subindex

expert judgment set of rules: 1. downstream

reservoir/dam 2.channelized ERR =>

bad condition 3.number of

reservoirs/dams in basin

4.land use in basin

Channel morphology subindex channel morphology subindex was assessed using shape files provided by

EuroNATUR (2012) in combination with GoogleEarth

slightly and moderately modified river reaches were not distinguished in EuroNatur assessment (2012)

Rating channel morphology

Category Rating

Pristine and near natural 4

Slightly modified 3

Moderately modified 2

Strongly modified 1

Highly modified 0

Using EuroNATUR assessment based on hydromorphology and Google Earth

Channel morphology subindex

Water quality subindex five (5) water quality classses were distinguished according to Water

Framework Directive system

Rating of the water quality

Category Numerical

value

Very good/High (1. class) 4

Good (2. class) 3

Moderate (3. class) 2

Poor (4. class) 1

Bad (5. class) 0

Using all available data (GIS and literature)

Water quality

Riparian zone subindex rapid assessment protocol to quantify streamside zone riparian vegetation

using satellite and ortophoto images

riparian zone subindex combines the width and the longitudinal continuity of riparian vegetation in streamside zone on both sides of river reach channel

Rating streamside vegetation cover

Portion of

vegetation

cover on both

banks

Width of streamside vegetation

≥3×channel

width

0.5-80-95% 4 3 3

60-80% 3 3 2

30-60% 2 2 1

0*-30% 1 1 0

* If no streamside vegetation is present, river reach score rates 0

All ERR were assessed using Google Earth

Riparian zone subindex

Land use subindex Land use subindex was determined using following aggregated categories from CORINE Land Cover map (European Environment Agency 2012):

1) % natural and seminatural areas (usually forest cover)

2a) % natural water areas

2b) % artificial water areas

3) % agriculture (including areas used for grazing)

4) % urban areas (including industry)

5) % areas used for mining, logging or other resource extraction operation

Calculation of land use change in a basin:

% land use change = sum (2b+3+4+5)

% natural/original land use = sum (1+2a)

Rating of land use

Category Numerical

value

≥90% natural land use

(near natural)

4

≥75-

Land use subindex CORINE LAND COVER (CLC 2006)

Corine Land Cover 2006

Land use subindex

Biological Importance Freshwater fish species – diversity and threats list of freshwater fishes species was

made for each river basin using Kottelat and Fryhof (2007) and all other available literature and GIS data

number of threatened species in each category according to IUCN criteria (European Red List of freshwater fishes, Freyhof and Brooks, 2011) in each river basin was established

number of endemic freshwater fish species in each river basin was determined

number of rare, i.e. Natura 2000 species (Annex II, Habitat Directive) in each river basin was established

ecology of fish species + expert judgment

=> list of fish spp. for every ERR

Biological Importance Freshwater fish species – diversity and threats

Fish Total Score (FTS) for fish threat status, endemicity and rareness was calculated for each river basin as follows: a=number of critically (CR) endangered fish species

b= number of endangered (EN) fish species

c= number of vulnerable (VU) fish species

d=number of rare, i.e. Natura 2000 species

e= number of endemic fish species

Then, Fish Total Score (FTS) for each river basin is

FTS= (6*a)+(4*b)+(2*c)+d+e

ranking of river basins (based on FTS) was performed for each subecoregion

Biological Importance Protected Areas

ranking position based on Fish Total Score and presence and type of protected area within which ERR is located was used for the assessment of the level of biological importance of every ERR

three levels of biological importance: High, Medium or Low

Prioritization Total Biological Importance

Integration matrix of condition value (C) and biological importance (BI) for the calculation of Total Biological Importance (TBI)

TBI=C×BI

Prioritization – Total Score (TS)

Condition Biological Importance

Total Score

ERR_TS Max 50 Max 50 Max 100

ERR_2 40 45 85

Total Score = Condition (C) + Total Biological Importance (TBI)

=> Maximum score for candidate priority ERR with High Biological Importance and High Conditon is 100

Prioritization of candidate priority river reaches

Priority Total score for ERR

Very high 80-100

High 51-80

Medium 26-50

Low 1-25

Prioritization

Representation analysis

should ensure that all river types are represented in a subregion and subregion-country unit

ERR with medium and low priority should be included to ensure representation of all river and habitat types on the level of subregion and also subregion-country unit

final map iscombination of all candidate priority ERR whose protection would ensure long term preservation of freshwater biodiversity for each subregion and subregion-country unit

Prioritization +

Representation

Prioritization +

Representation

+ Connectivity

Thank you for your attention

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Krešimir Žganec, doc. dr. sc. · 2020. 5. 29. · Classification of river types River types = river sections belonging to the same ecoregion/subecoregion with similar characteristics