Physical habitat assessment

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Physical habitat assessment

Type

Hydromorphological assessment methods

Brief description

Physical habitat assessment methods aim to identify, survey and assess physical habitats and/or the overall functioning and conditions of rivers and streams. They are mainly applied at a local/reach scale, consider all the spatial components of a river corridor (channel, riparian area and floodplain), and assess the hydromorphological state at present time. We reviewed 72 methods belonging to this broad category (39 for European countries and 33 for non-European countries).

Strengths, limitation and gaps

Methods of physical habitat assessment aim to characterize the range of physical habitats, heterogeneity and structure of ecosystems. These methods have often a great ecological relevance. The main limitation is that these methods are not suitable to understand physical processes and causes of river alterations, because of a series of reasons, including the scale of investigation (too small), the survey resolution (too much accurate), the temporal scale (not taken into account), the variability of river systems (not covered).

Rivertypes

Related Pressures

Related Measures

    No measures apply to this tool.

Related Hymo quality elements

Related Biological quality elements

    No Biological Quality Elements apply to this tool.

Related Ecosystem goods and services

    No Ecosystem goods and services apply to this tool.

Useful references

Other relevant information