Regelsbrunner Aue
Regelsbrunner Aue
Introduction
The goal of the ‘Danube Restoration Project’ is to gradually restore hydrological connectivity and ecological integrity between the river and its floodplain in a segment of the Austrian Danube (Schiemer, 1995; Tockner and Schiemer, 1997). In order to test the effectiveness and success of this large-scale pilot project, a long-term evaluation program has been implemented, which includes abiotic, biotic and functional components (Hein et al., 1999; Schiemer et al., in press). The biotic ‘functional describers’ (sensu Castella et al., 1984) include macrophytes, molluscs, odonates, amphibians, fish and benthic invertebrates. In the present analysis, the first four of these groups are focused upon, because sampling strategies for fish and benthic invertebrates are not compatible with the other groups.
