The University of Southampton
University of Southampton Institutional Repository

Process-based principles for restoring river ecosystems

Process-based principles for restoring river ecosystems
Process-based principles for restoring river ecosystems
Process-based restoration aims to reestablish normative rates and magnitudes of physical, chemical, and biological processes that sustain river and floodplain ecosystems. Ecosystem conditions at any site are governed by hierarchical regional, watershed, and reach-scale processes controlling hydrologic and sediment regimes; floodplain and aquatic habitat dynamics; and riparian and aquatic biota.

We outline and illustrate four process-based principles that ensure river restoration will be guided toward sustainable actions: (1) restoration actions should address the root causes of degradation, (2) actions must be consistent with the physical and biological potential of the site, (3) actions should be at a scale commensurate with environmental problems, and (4) actions should have clearly articulated expected outcomes for ecosystem dynamics.

Applying these principles will help avoid common pitfalls in river restoration, such as creating habitat types that are outside of a site's natural potential, attempting to build static habitats in dynamic environments, or constructing habitat features that are ultimately overwhelmed by unconsidered system drivers.
209-222
Beechie, Timothy J.
eacf1c29-2062-4e36-ab43-3ba02f01b731
Sear, David A.
ccd892ab-a93d-4073-a11c-b8bca42ecfd3
Olden, Julian D.
437f5025-1df8-48db-ae5a-67d7d1ea7e41
Pess, George R.
b6d1d144-cde1-4d84-9319-11ba8aa2b1ad
Buffington, John M.
eab381d7-eca4-431c-9b73-61274810d036
Moir, Hamish
9032e3c8-dc73-4641-bb34-02a71010255f
Roni, Philip
ed2f94b4-a50d-448f-b503-4c2d93a2dbbd
Pollock, Michael M.
cce05459-7a51-4a6b-8c40-bbdeb633ad22
Beechie, Timothy J.
eacf1c29-2062-4e36-ab43-3ba02f01b731
Sear, David A.
ccd892ab-a93d-4073-a11c-b8bca42ecfd3
Olden, Julian D.
437f5025-1df8-48db-ae5a-67d7d1ea7e41
Pess, George R.
b6d1d144-cde1-4d84-9319-11ba8aa2b1ad
Buffington, John M.
eab381d7-eca4-431c-9b73-61274810d036
Moir, Hamish
9032e3c8-dc73-4641-bb34-02a71010255f
Roni, Philip
ed2f94b4-a50d-448f-b503-4c2d93a2dbbd
Pollock, Michael M.
cce05459-7a51-4a6b-8c40-bbdeb633ad22

Beechie, Timothy J., Sear, David A., Olden, Julian D., Pess, George R., Buffington, John M., Moir, Hamish, Roni, Philip and Pollock, Michael M. (2010) Process-based principles for restoring river ecosystems. BioScience, 60 (3), 209-222. (doi:10.1525/bio.2010.60.3.7).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Process-based restoration aims to reestablish normative rates and magnitudes of physical, chemical, and biological processes that sustain river and floodplain ecosystems. Ecosystem conditions at any site are governed by hierarchical regional, watershed, and reach-scale processes controlling hydrologic and sediment regimes; floodplain and aquatic habitat dynamics; and riparian and aquatic biota.

We outline and illustrate four process-based principles that ensure river restoration will be guided toward sustainable actions: (1) restoration actions should address the root causes of degradation, (2) actions must be consistent with the physical and biological potential of the site, (3) actions should be at a scale commensurate with environmental problems, and (4) actions should have clearly articulated expected outcomes for ecosystem dynamics.

Applying these principles will help avoid common pitfalls in river restoration, such as creating habitat types that are outside of a site's natural potential, attempting to build static habitats in dynamic environments, or constructing habitat features that are ultimately overwhelmed by unconsidered system drivers.

Text
Bioscience_paper.pdf - Version of Record
Download (698kB)

More information

Published date: March 2010

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 147869
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/147869
PURE UUID: b8c5aa9a-2504-4a31-9323-0436196fb52d
ORCID for David A. Sear: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0191-6179

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 26 Apr 2010 15:50
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 02:37

Export record

Altmetrics

Contributors

Author: Timothy J. Beechie
Author: David A. Sear ORCID iD
Author: Julian D. Olden
Author: George R. Pess
Author: John M. Buffington
Author: Hamish Moir
Author: Philip Roni
Author: Michael M. Pollock

Download statistics

Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.

View more statistics

Atom RSS 1.0 RSS 2.0

Contact ePrints Soton: eprints@soton.ac.uk

ePrints Soton supports OAI 2.0 with a base URL of http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/cgi/oai2

This repository has been built using EPrints software, developed at the University of Southampton, but available to everyone to use.

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we will assume that you are happy to receive cookies on the University of Southampton website.

×