Chapter 16 - Impact of anthropogenic stresses on riparian ecosystem and their management perspectives

Abstract

Riparian ecosystems represent the interface zone between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem which serves as semi-permeable membrane and help in nutrient filtration, material flow, erosion control and support floral and faunal biodiversity. These ecosystems are heterogeneous in nature, and are dynamic systems having distinct properties from the adjacent aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The riparian ecosystems are characterized by the interplay of soil, water and vegetation components which determine their ecological significance. These ecosystems provide several ecosystem services to the human beings, and therefore, have been highly explored and exploited in different ways. The unique and dynamic properties of these ecosystems make them highly susceptible to climate change. These ecosystems are one of the most vulnerable ecosystems of the world due to anthropogenic activities in the form of habitat transformation, vegetation clearing for agriculture and developmental activity, urbanization, damming, grazing, mining and invasive species, etc. In this chapter, a brief account has been given on the ecological characteristics and ecosystem services of riparian ecosystems, followed by major anthropogenic stresses to these ecosystems, and some ecological engineering-based management plans have been suggested at the end. We conclude that the construction and/or restoration of riparian buffer zones by using particular ecological engineering tools may help in restoring the ecosystem services of these ecosystems and also help in soil C sequestration in addition to the riverbank stabilization.