Hydromorphological research as a source of information for water management facing the impacts of environmental change
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| Year of publication | 2016 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | The global environmental change is primarily the result of long-term and ever growing anthropogenic pressure on the environment, at the local water management level often expressed by the occurrence of extreme hydrological events. In addition to hydro-meteorological causes, this is an unsuitable morphological status of the river network or land use patterns in the catchment area which has also a significant share on the formation of risky situations. Since the river network usually reflects the environmental status of the whole catchment or river landscape area, at least, research of hydromorphological conditions can be regarded as one of the ways how to express the size of the impact of human activity on the environment. The small watercourses in several different catchments in the Czech Republic, formed by the different natural conditions and anthropogenic pressures, have been subjected to the research. The main aim of the study was to analyse the hydromorphological status of streams and to identify the potential natural (reference) state based on local conditions, whereby it would be possible to express the overall degree of degradation. An important part of the research is the actual process of determining the variables which would be involved in shaping the reference state of stream. This study has shown that a specific range of variables determining the reference state of stream is significantly reflected also in quantitative and qualitative parameters of the whole fluvial ecosystem, understood as a flat area directly formed by the stream itself. From the study results it is evident that the improvement of hydromorphological status can be regarded as an important measure to mitigate the effects of environmental change, especially in the case of small watersheds. |
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