READ ME file for PhD thesis "The ecological effects of physical habitat restoration in English chalk streams" by Lewis Adam Dolman Dataset DOI: 10.5258/SOTON/D2945 READ ME author: Lewis Adam Dolman, University of Southampton. Orcid ID: 0009-0006-0676-2307 This dataset supports the thesis entitled "The ecological effects of physical habitat restoration in English chalk streams" AWARDED BY: Univeristy of Southampton DATE OF AWARD: 2024 This dataset contains: CHAPTER 5 - 'Quantifying the environmental impacts of low-head weirs and their removal in low power chalk streams' CHAPTER 6 - 'Chalk stream restoration - physical and ecological responses to gravel augmentation' CHAPTER 7 - 'Restoration over time - the physical and ecological responses to restoration in an English chalk stream' CHAPTER 8 - 'Non-invasive population estimates of freshwater fishes using remote underwater video' -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DESCRIPTION OF THE DATA CHAPTER 5 - 'Quantifying the environmental impacts of low-head weirs and their removal in low power chalk streams' Tab 1 (Coarse scale impacts data): Macroinvertebrate abundance, taxon richness, PSI (Proportion of Sediment sensitive Invertebrates), LIFE (Lotic Index for Flow Evaluation), Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera (EPT) abundance (EPT abundance) and taxon richness (EPT richness) data collated from the fish and ecology data explorer above and below low-head weirs and paired control sites. Invertebrate ID shwos the identification number on the database. Treatment shows whether the data was in the control of weir impacted site. Pair shows paired weir impacted and control sites. Tab 2 (Fine svale impacts data): Physical habitat (depth, velocity and silt, sand, gravel, cobble and coarse substrate cover) and macroinvertebrate metrics (abundance, taxon richness, LIFE, PSI, EPT abundance and EPT richness) collected upstream and downstream of the Bossington Estate weir removal project prior to the removal and at a nearby control site. 'Transect' shows sampling transects taken every 20 m. Tab 3 (Weir removal physical data): Depth (cm), velocity (m/s) and silt, sand, gravel, cobble substrate cover (%) collected at each transect upstream and downstream of the Bossington Estate weir removal project prior to (2017) and post-restoration (2018-2021). Tab 4 (Weir removal invertebrate data): abundance, taxon richness, LIFE, PSI, EPT abundance and EPT richness collected at each transect upstream and downstream of the Bossington Estate weir removal project prior to (2016-2017) and post-restoration (2018-2021). PSI[+4.45] shows PSI values in which 4.45 was added to 2017 data to make 2017 data comparable to other years as 30 second kick samples were used in 2017 versus 3 minutes kick samples in the other years. Abundances for each macroinvertebrate family are shown. Tab 5 (30 s invertebrate data): Abundance, taxon richness, LIFE, PSI, EPT abundance and EPT richness taken at each transect using 30 second kick samples in 2019. These were used to assess 30 second and 3 minute kick samples comparability. CHAPTER 6 - 'Chalk stream restoration - physical and ecological responses to gravel augmentation' Tab 1 & 2 (EL physical & HS physical): Wetted width (m), depth (cm), velocity (m/s), dominant substrate and macrophyte cover (%) in East Lodge (EL) and Home Stream (HS) restoration sites over time. 'Months' corresponds to the number of months pre- or post-restoration. Location shows whether the data was collected in the restored site (treatment) or control. Transect corresponds to the survey transect taken during each sampling period located at 10 m intervals going upstream, with location showing the five datapoints collected across each transect. Tab 3 & 4 (EL macrophyte & HS macrophyte): The amount of each transect (a 1 m area spanning the width of the river) covered by each of the assessed macrophyte groups in EL and HS over time. 'Months' corresponds to the number of months the data was collected pre- or post-restoration. Transect corresponds to the survey transect taken during each sampling period located at 10 m intervals going upstream. Location shows whether the data was collected in the restored site (treatment) or control. Tab 5 & 6 (EL invertebrates & HS invertebrates):abundance, taxon richness, LIFE, PSI and the percentage of the abundance (EPTA) and taxon richness (EPTN) made up EPT families. 'Months' corresponds to the number of months the data was collected pre- or post-restoration. Transect corresponds to the survey transect taken during each sampling period located at 20 m intervals going upstream. Location shows whether the data was collected in the restored site (treatment) or control. The raw abundance of each macroinvertebrate family is also shown. Tab 7 & 8 (EL fish & HS fish): Fish metrics calculated from remote underwater video (RUV) taken at each transect 0-1 and 1-2 years post-restoration (period; post-restoration only) in restored (treatment) and control reaches. Metrics calculated: (1) the maximum number of individuals per species observed instantaneously across each 27-minute video (NMax), (2) the mean of the maximum number of individuals observed for each species per minute (NMean), (3) species richness, and (4) the total abundance (sum of all NMax values across all species per video). CHAPTER 7 - 'Restoration over time - the physical and ecological responses to restoration in an English chalk stream' Tab 1 (Physical habitat): Depth (cm), velocity (m/s) and dominant substrate taken at three points (sampling points) across each transect in Old Station Beat (OSTN) and Old Stews Beat (OSTW) priot to and following restoration. Year shows the year in which the data was collected. Tab 2 (Invertebrate raw): Raw macroinvertebrate data collected at OSTN and OSTW pre- and post-restoration. The abundance of each family found at each sampling point in shown, Tab 3 (Invertebrate metrics): Abundance, taxon richness, LIFE, PSI, EPTA and EPTN calculated from the raw invertebrate data shown in Tab 2 for OSTN and OSTW pre- and post-restoration. Tab 4 (Control invertebrates): Abundance, taxon richness, LIFE, PSI, EPTA and EPTN calculated from macroinvertebrate samples collected across the River Test (Hampshire, UK) and its tributaries from data collated from the Environment Agency's 'Fish and Ecology Data Explorer' (https://environment.data.gov.uk/ecology-fish/) and the SmartRivers monitoring datasets (https://wildfish.org/project/smart-rivers/). CHAPTER 8 - 'Non-invasive population estimates of freshwater fishes using remote underwater video' Tab 1 & 2 (Trout ID Phase 1 and 2 & Minnow ID Phase 1 and 2): This experiment was used to assess whether it was possible to identify individual Brown trout and Eurasian minnow using morphometric measurements or unique identifiable features (UIF; e.g. spots, stripes) when the fish was laying flat of a board (Phase 1) and when recorded underwater (Phase 2). Identification success was assessed by taking two images of each individual in both Phase 1 and 2. One of these photos was inputted into a reference database then we assessed reidentification ability by attempting to predict which individual was shown in relation to this database by using morphometrics or UIF. This data shows the number of successful (Y) and non-successful (N) reidentifications for each species. Tab 3 & 4 (Trout phase 3 & Minnow phase 3): This experiment attempted to assess whether it is possible to use UIF and RUV to accurately estimate fish population size by developing mark-recapture ppulation estimated. Per trial, between 10 and 30 fish were released into an experimental tank (Actual) and a submerged camera was introduced to capture footage. Using images collected from this, we produced population size estimates (Estimate) to assess the accuracy of this method. NA shows trials in which not enough images of fish were collected to allow population estimates to be made. Ethical approval to work with fish in CHAPTER 8 was granted prior to the experiment commencing (application ID: 64792). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date of data collection: all data was collected between July 2013 and December 2022. Information about geographic location of data collection: CHAPTER 5 - River Test weir removal site: 51.07574304679859, -1.5175298707322673. CHAPTER 6 - River Test gravel augmentation site: 51.073235552202306, -1.5170793429007767. River Itchen gravel augmentation site: 51.00069548107363, -1.3247397116060826. CHAPTER 7 - River Test Old Station Beat restoration site: 51.071995391514506, -1.5127042785068536. Old Stews Beat restoration site: 51.0729142322786, -1.5146145975670526. CHAPTER 8 - Experiments were conducted at the University of Southampton Boldrewood Campus fish holding facilty. Licence: CC-BY Related projects/Funders: This PhD was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/L01582X/1) and Environment Agency. Date that the file was created: Feb, 2024.