Morphological alterations Presence of downstream artificial barriers on the catchment scale Artificial barriers upstream from the site Artificial barriers downstream from the site Channelisation/Cross section alteration
Working with physical form and function of river and floodplains Reconnect and restore historic aquatic habitats Changes in system operation Change operational regime of weirs and locks
Other
Project size
570 ha
Approximate costs
0
Synergy
-
Status
Realised
Period of realization
1999
Evaluation
1
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.
