Ecological risks and opportunities from engineered artificial flooding as a means of achieving environmental flow objectives
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Author(s)
Bond, Nick
Costelloe, Justin
King, Alison
Warfe, Danielle
Reich, Paul
Balcombe, Stephen
Year published
2014
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Restoration of floodplain ecosystems through the reinstatement of floods is often hampered by insufficient water as a result of competing human demands. An emerging alternative approach relies on floodplain infrastructure - such as levees, weirs, regulators, and pumps - to control water levels within floodplains without requiring landscape-scale overbank floods. This technique, albeit water efficient and capable of achieving some ecological targets, does not mimic the hydraulics, hydrodynamics, and lateral connectivity of natural floods. Engineering approaches like this may risk detrimental ecological outcomes, including ...
View more >Restoration of floodplain ecosystems through the reinstatement of floods is often hampered by insufficient water as a result of competing human demands. An emerging alternative approach relies on floodplain infrastructure - such as levees, weirs, regulators, and pumps - to control water levels within floodplains without requiring landscape-scale overbank floods. This technique, albeit water efficient and capable of achieving some ecological targets, does not mimic the hydraulics, hydrodynamics, and lateral connectivity of natural floods. Engineering approaches like this may risk detrimental ecological outcomes, including reductions in biotic connectivity, river-floodplain productivity, and water quality, and thus may fail to support the range of ecological processes required to sustain healthy river-floodplain systems. Here, we review the potential benefits, risks, and mitigation options associated with engineered artificial flooding. Given the growing challenge of equitable water allocation, further research on and monitoring of engineered floods as a tool to sustain floodplain ecosystems are urgently required.
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View more >Restoration of floodplain ecosystems through the reinstatement of floods is often hampered by insufficient water as a result of competing human demands. An emerging alternative approach relies on floodplain infrastructure - such as levees, weirs, regulators, and pumps - to control water levels within floodplains without requiring landscape-scale overbank floods. This technique, albeit water efficient and capable of achieving some ecological targets, does not mimic the hydraulics, hydrodynamics, and lateral connectivity of natural floods. Engineering approaches like this may risk detrimental ecological outcomes, including reductions in biotic connectivity, river-floodplain productivity, and water quality, and thus may fail to support the range of ecological processes required to sustain healthy river-floodplain systems. Here, we review the potential benefits, risks, and mitigation options associated with engineered artificial flooding. Given the growing challenge of equitable water allocation, further research on and monitoring of engineered floods as a tool to sustain floodplain ecosystems are urgently required.
View less >
Journal Title
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
Volume
12
Issue
7
Copyright Statement
© 2014 Ecological Society of America. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the journal's website for access to the definitive, published version.
Subject
Freshwater ecology