Abstract
<p>The CASiMiR-vegetation model is a software that recreates the physical processes influencing the survival and recruitment of riparian vegetation, based on the relationship between ecologically relevant flow regime components and riparian vegetation metrics that reflect the vegetation’s responses to flow regime change. Working at a flow response guild level, this tool outperforms equivalent models by overriding various restrictions of the conventional modeling approaches. The potential of the CASiMiR-vegetation model is revealed in its application to different case studies during the development of a holistic approach to determine environmental flows in lowland Mediterranean rivers, based on woody riparian vegetation and fish species. Various modeling circumstances are described where CASiMiR-vegetation model was used with the purpose of sustaining the research addressing the thesis objectives. The main findings already accomplished in this research are highlighted to illustrate the outcomes that can be attained from the use of such a model.</p>
Highlights
The river natural flow regime is the foundation of the ecological integrity of aquatic and riparian ecosystems (Poff et al 1997)
Development and calibration of a dynamic riparian vegetation model The CASiMiR-vegetation model was successfully calibrated for Mediterranean rivers achieving in all the study sites a quadratic weighted kappa ranging from 0.51 to 0.66 (Table 2)
Throughout the different sections of this article one shows the support that this tool is rendering in particular to the development of a holistic approach for the determination of environmental flows in lowland Mediterranean rivers based on riparian vegetation and fish species
Summary
The river natural flow regime is the foundation of the ecological integrity of aquatic and riparian ecosystems (Poff et al 1997). A modification in the river natural flow regime influences the geomorphology (Lloyd et al 2004), ecology (Poff and Zimmerman 2010) and biology (Stromberg et al 2010a) of these ecosystems producing dramatic effects on both aquatic and riparian species (Poff and Zimmerman 2010). Flow restoration became mandatory for European managers, as the WaterFramework Directive aims to achieve good ecological status in all water bodies, where the flow regime must be capable of sustaining biological elements and river processes (Acreman and Ferguson 2010). Different biological communities need to be considered in environmental flow definition along with its response to diverse water regime elements like magnitude, frequency, duration, timing and flashiness (Poff et al 1997; Acreman and Ferguson 2010)
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