Over 200,000 kilometers of free-flowing river habitat in Europe is altered due to impoundments.

ABSTRACT: European rivers are disconnected by more than one million man-made barriers that physically limit aquatic species migration and contribute to modification of freshwater habitats. Here, a Conceptual Habitat Alteration Model for Ponding is developed to aid in evaluating the effects of impoundments on fish habitats. Fish communities present in rivers with low human impact and their broad environmental settings enable classification of European rivers into 15 macrohabitat types. These classifications, together with the estimated fish sensitivity to alteration of their habitat are used for assessing the impacts of six main barrier types (dams, weirs, sluices, culverts, fords, and ramps). Our results indicate that over 200,000 km or 10% of previously free-flowing river habitat has been altered d

SUBMITTER: Parasiewicz P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10562483 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature