Large-scale relationships between basin and riparian land cover and the ecological status of European rivers

J.G. Wasson (1) , B. Villeneuve (1) , A. Ital (2) , J. Murray Bligh (3) , M. Dobiasova (4) , S. Bacikova (4) , H. Timm (5) , H. Pella (1) , N. Mengin (1) , A. Chandesris (1)

1 UR MALY - Milieux aquatiques, écologie et pollutions
2 TTÜ - Tallinn University of Technology
3 Environment Agency
4 Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute
5 EMU - Estonian University of Life Sciences

The study of large-scale pressure-impact relationships involves questions of hierarchy and scales. Answers to these questions will help managers define priorities for action to achieve the good ecological status' required by the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The main objectives of our study were 1) to establish the relative impact of pressures that degrade ecological status, especially those caused by agriculture and urbanization, 2) to identify regional patterns in these pressure-impact relationships and 3) to evaluate the relative weight of the pressures acting at the basin and riparian corridor scales, and the possible buffering effect of riparian areas. We developed large-scale models linking invertebrate indices of ecological quality to river basin and riparian land cover in France, Slovakia, Estonia and UK. Invertebrate indices, transformed to Ecological Quality Ratios (EQR), were taken from national monitoring networks. We based the models on Partial Least Squares (PLS) regressions at national and a hydro-ecoregion (HER) scales. The HERs provided a framework for grouping data in terms of natural river features and human activities. The different national methods provided consistent results that indicated the hierarchy of pressures impacting river invertebrates at the European scale. The most salient result was that artificial land cover (e.g. urban and industrial sites) in the river basin represented the pressure with the most negative impact on invertebrate indices, in all countries and regions. The impact of agricultural land cover was more variable. Arable land had a smaller impact than urban areas, and it was even insignificant in some models. The impact of vineyards depended on the natural geographical context. The effect of pastures seemed to be related to the intensity of the livestock they carried. These results supported the concept of regional pathologies for river ecosystems, as land use and anthropogenic influences are closely linked to physical landscape features. The proportion of arable land in the river basin appeared to be a weak predictor of agricultural impacts by itself; the type of cultivation and intensity as well as the proximity to the river must be taken into account. At the riparian corridor scale, the negative impact of artificial areas or arable land and the positive effects of forests and pastures were demonstrated in many regions. The protective effect of riparian forests against mixed agricultural and urban pressures was demonstrated in three regions in France. Riparian corridors appear to be manageable areas, and these results strongly support the idea of including their restoration in priority actions for achieving good ecological status.

Mots clés: IMPACT SUR L'ENVIRONNEMENT; HYDROECOLOGIE; URBANISATION; COURS D'EAU; INVERTEBRE; RIPISYLVE; MODELE PRESSION IMPACT; FRANCE; ESTONIE; SLOVAQUIE; ROYAUME UNI; PRESSURE-IMPACT MODELS; HYDRO-ECOREGION; RIPARIAN BUFFER; AGRICULTURAL IMPACT; STREAMS; PARTIAL LEAST SQUARES REGRESSION; WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE

Domaines: Sciences de l'environnement

J.G. Wasson, B. Villeneuve, A. Ital, J. Murray Bligh, M. Dobiasova, et al.. Large-scale relationships between basin and riparian land cover and the ecological status of European rivers. Freshwater Biology, 2010, 55, p. 1465 - p. 1482. ⟨10.1111/j.1365-2427.2010.02443.x⟩. ⟨hal-00538245⟩