Abstract
Longitudinal training dams (LTDs) in the river Waal are novel river training structures that protect the littoral zone from the adverse effects of navigation providing new habitats for riverine macroinvertebrates. In order to inform river management and to better understand their ecological value for native and alien mussel species, it is important to assess the habitat suitability of the protected LTD shore channels. We applied spatial hydroacoustics surveys consisting of side-scan sonar (SSS) and acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) of the substrate type, water depth and flow velocity in three shore channels in combination with species sensitivity distributions (SSDs) to predict habitat suitability for native and alien mussel species. SSDs allowed for the prediction of habitat suitability as a potentially occurring fraction (POF) of a species pool. High substrate type, water depth, and near-bottom flow velocity POFs were found for ≥ 70%, 100%, and 4–51% of the total shore channel area, respectively, suggesting that shore channels provide suitable habitat for both native and alien mussel species. To enhance the shore channels as habitat for native mussel species, we recommend increasing shallow areas dominated by fine (silt/clay) and sand substrate types with low near-bottom flow velocities (near 0 m/s). In contrast, the total area of hard substrate (e.g., boulders) in the shore channels should be reduced as it strongly favored invasive alien mussel species in our study. Future research should include additional abiotic parameters to enhance the habitat suitability predictions and compare the results for different riverine habitats.
Highlights
Riverine ecosystems are continuously threatened by the effects of anthropogenic pressures, such as resource overexploitation, hydromorphological modifications, and the1 3 Vol.:(0123456789)In Europe, the implementation of management measures to improve the ecology of heavily modified rivers has become a common goal [21]
Data collection was performed along three longitudinal training dams (LTDs) in the river Waal constructed with boulders that extended from river 911 to 922 km and divided the river into the main channel and three shore channels (Fig. 1)
A substrate reclassification was performed for the Ophemert shore channel by using all of the grab samples collected in order to obtain a more accurate substrate map for the potentially occurring fraction (POF) prediction
Summary
Riverine ecosystems are continuously threatened by the effects of anthropogenic pressures, such as resource overexploitation, hydromorphological modifications, and the1 3 Vol.:(0123456789)In Europe, the implementation of management measures to improve the ecology of heavily modified rivers has become a common goal [21]. We explore the degree to which the ambient water depth, substrate, and near-bottom flow velocity conditions in the shore channels along the LTDs provide suitable habitats for freshwater mussels These three abiotic parameters were selected since longitudinal and transversal habitat heterogeneity in riverine ecosystems have been hypothesized to result from varying substrate type distribution, water depth, and flow velocity gradients [26,27,28,29,30]. SSDs are statistical curves that describe the variability in the sensitivities of species to a specific abiotic parameter and are derived by using either laboratory or field data on the mortality and occurrence of species when exposed to stressors [38, 45, 46, 48] These SSDs enable the prediction of suitable habitats based on measured or modeled abiotic conditions [44, 49, 50]. The potentially occurring fraction (POF) is the fraction of the regional mussel species pool included in the SSD that could be present under an abiotic condition [38]
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