Riparian habitat assessment

Riparian habitat assessment

Type

Hydromorphological assessment methods

Brief description

Riparian habitat assessment methods aim to identify, survey and assess riparian habitat conditions of rivers and streams. They are mainly applied at a local/reach scale, and generally to the overall river corridor, but focussing on vegetation characteristics. We reviewed 14 methods in total (5 for European countries and 9 for non-European countries).

Strengths, limitations and gaps

Methods of riparian habitat assessment adopt a similar approach to river habitat assessment, but focusing on the riparian component. They generally suffer the same limitations as for the habitat assessment (limited spatial and temporal scale, poor understanding of physical processes, etc.) but they successfully integrate vegetation in the assessment of river status. These methods have been developed mainly in southern European countries; they need validation and/or adaptation to be applied in other countries.