RESTORATION ECOLOGY

The biomonitoring activities of regulatory agencies identify stream ecosystems that fail to meet environmental quality standards. Intervention is needed to enable these ecosystems to support robust, sustainable communities that perform ecological functions to deliver ecosystem services. In collaboration with industry partners, we use data collected before and after interventions to evaluate the effectiveness of restoration projects. We focus in particular on the highly valued, legally protected chalk streams of southern England, including ‘winterbourne’ reaches, which naturally experience seasonal drying. By identifying effective restoration activities, we seek to inform the design of future projects.

Our research questions:

• How do geomorphological and hydrological drivers interact to influence the ‘success’ of river restoration activities, as indicated by community responses[SR1] ?

• Which species and communities are indicative of high quality and restored [SR2] sites, and can we use these ecological indicators to inform the design of future restoration activities?

• How can we restore river ecosystems characterized by within and among-year hydrological variability, including shifts between wet and dry states, and thus between aquatic and terrestrial communities?

• How can we balance restoration goals, and engage people with ecologically robust project designs that include natural flowing, ponded and dry instream states?

Top photo: River Manifold, Staffs, UK. Copyright Tory Milner