Fish longitudinal continuity assessment
Fish longitudinal continuity assessment
Type
Hydromorphological assessment methods
Rivertypes
Related Pressures
- Artificial barriers upstream from the site
- Artificial barriers downstream from the site
- Alteration of instream habitat
Related Measures
- No measures apply to this tool.
Related Hymo quality elements
- River continuity (Class: River continuity)
Related Biological quality elements
Related Ecosystem goods and services
- No Ecosystem goods and services apply to this tool.
Useful references
Other relevant information
Methods for fish longitudinal continuity assessment aim to assess the impact that cross-sectional structures (i.e. barriers) have on the movement and migration of fish communities. While early methods simply aim to obtain a database inventory of the location of barriers, more recent methods also attempt to assess the passability of barriers (mainly at the single barrier scale) both in terms of their structural characteristics and of the biological capacities of fish communities to pass them (e.g. swimming/jumping abilities, life history). We reviewed 20 methods in total (13 for European countries and 7 for non-European countries).
Methods for longitudinal continuity assessment mainly consists of an inventory of features or on an assessment of barrier passability at the single barrier scale, rather than on the effective assessment of river longitudinal continuity at the catchment scale. Despite recent progress, efforts are still needed to combine small scale assessment and large scale inventories, species biology, spatial/regional environmental diversity and river processes.
