Krešimir Žganec, doc. dr. sc. University of Zadar

Transcription

1 Krešimir Žganec, doc. dr. sc. University of Zadar

2 Project aim: highlight the most outstanding freshwater/river ecosystems in Serbia Expected results: A map showing the most outstanding freshwater ecosystems endorsement of this map by key environmental institutions in the region as a step towards preservation of the most outstanding freshwater ecosystems

3 Spatial extent of the project

4 Spatial extent of the project

5 Methodology Ecoregional conservation (ERC) Ecoregion: large unit of land or water containing a geographically distinct assemblage of species and natural communities delineations of freshwater ecoregions are based primarily on the zoogeography of obligate aquatic species

6 Methodology Conservation targets long term persistence of all distinct river/stream habitats and species assemblages to preserve intact habitats and intact biotas to ensure long term persistence of species of special concern to preserve critical habitats for migratory species

7 Methodology Biodiversity surrogates lack of detailed data on spatial distribution of species and communities we used combination of environmental classes and sub-set of taxa as biodiversity surrogates environmental classes are river reaches characterized by river type and habitat types as well as by their condition main assumption: river reach in very good or good condition hosts all or a majority of the biodiversity elements characteristic for its river type and habitat types within it

8 Salmo marmoratus Methodology Biodiversity surrogates presence of species of special concern (IUCN Red List species, endemic and rare species) in catchment/sub-catchment will be used to supplement the physically-defined biodiversity surrogates Knipowitschia croatica Delminichthys jadovensis

9 Methodology Major steps 1. Selection of rivers for analysis 2. Classification 3. Condition 4. Prioritization 5. Representation analysis 6. Identification of outstanding/most important Evaluated River Reaches (ERR) 7. Consideration of connectivity (fish migration) and protection of important physical and ecological processes

10 1. River selection EuroNatur data about planned Hydroelectric Power Plants (HPP) and hydromorphology of rivers they selected for analysis

11 129 = total number of rivers selected for analysis 9256 km of river length km 2 = sum of basin size of all selected rivers (without Danube and Sava)

12 2. Classification Delineation of ecoregions and subecoregions (subregions) Delineation of all catchments/subcatchments/subbasins that will be analyzed Classification of river types Identification of main units of analysis - Evaluated River Reaches (ERR)

13 European Ecoregions from Water Framework Directive-Annex XI and according to Illies (1978)

14 River classification according to ecoregion and subecoregions Ekoregion: Hellenic western Balkan

15 2. Classification Delineation of ecoregions and subecoregions (subregions) Delineation of all catchments/subcatchments/subbasins that will be analyzed Classification of river types Identification of main units of analysis - Evaluated River Reaches (ERR)

16 Catchments of all major rivers selected for analysis

17 Catchments of all major rivers selected for analysis

18 Subbasins of all rivers selected for analysis

19 Subbasins of all rivers selected for analysis

20 2. Classification Delineation of ecoregions and subecoregions (subregions) Delineation of all catchments/subcatchments/subbasins that will be analyzed Classification of river types Identification of main units of analysis - Evaluated River Reaches (ERR)

21 Classification of river types River types = river sections belonging to the same ecoregion/subecoregion with similar characteristics of size of their subbasin, altitudinal range, geology and hydrology Size typology based on catchment area : Elevation classes: <500 m > 500 m Geological classes: calcareous siliceous organic small: > 100 km 2 medium: > km 2 large: > km 2 very large-1: km 2 very large-2: > km 2

22 Službena tipologija glavne grupe

23 Korištena tipologija

24 Identification of main units of analysis - Evaluated River Reaches (ERR) Ecoregion No. ERR Panonska nizija 92 Dinarski zap. Balkan-Crn. sliv 209 Dinarski zap. Balkan-Jad. sliv 47 Istočni Balkan 17 Karpati 43 Total 371

25 River reach condition

26 Table 1: Five categories for indicator ratings (0-4 scale) and five categories (0-10) for final subindex values (in parenthesis). Category Numerical value Essentially natural 4 ( 2.5=10) Near natural 3 (7.5) Moderate 2 (5) modification Major modification 1 (2.5) Highly modified 0 (0) Table 2: Categories of river condition for each subindex Category Very good 10 Good 7,5 Moderate 5 Poor 2,5 Bad 0 Numerical value

27 Hydrology subindex Hydrological impact (HI) sum of absolute values of differences of average monthly discharge before and after impact divided by the average annual discharge: HI=(Σ abs(q m,before -Q m,after )/ΣAAD before hydropeaking (i.e. sudden subdaily changes of flow due to impact of Hydroelectric Power Plant): Hydrological deviation (HD) = (HI-1) Rating of the hydrological deviation Hydrological deviation <20% 4 20 to <35% 3 35 to <50% 2 50 to <65% 1 >65% 0 Rating

28 Hydrology condition subindex expert judgment set of rules: 1. downstream reservoir/dam 2.channelized ERR => bad condition 3.number of reservoirs/dams in basin 4.land use in basin

29 Channel morphology subindex channel morphology subindex was assessed using shape files provided by EuroNATUR (2012) in combination with GoogleEarth slightly and moderately modified river reaches were not distinguished in EuroNatur assessment (2012) Rating channel morphology Category Rating Pristine and near natural 4 Slightly modified 3 Moderately modified 2 Strongly modified 1 Highly modified 0

30 Channel morphology subindex Using EuroNATUR assessment based on hydromorphology and Google Earth

31 Water quality subindex five (5) water quality classses were distinguished according to Water Framework Directive system Rating of the water quality Category Numerical value Very good/high (1. class) 4 Good (2. class) 3 Moderate (3. class) 2 Poor (4. class) 1 Bad (5. class) 0

32 Water quality Using all available data (GIS and literature)

33 Riparian zone subindex rapid assessment protocol to quantify streamside zone riparian vegetation using satellite and ortophoto images riparian zone subindex combines the width and the longitudinal continuity of riparian vegetation in streamside zone on both sides of river reach channel Rating streamside vegetation cover Portion of vegetation cover on both banks Width of streamside vegetation 3 channel width 0.5-<3 channel width 0. 5 channel width % >80-95% % % *-30% * If no streamside vegetation is present, river reach score rates 0

34 Riparian zone subindex All ERR were assessed using Google Earth

35 Land use subindex Land use subindex was determined using following aggregated categories from CORINE Land Cover map (European Environment Agency 2012): 1) % natural and seminatural areas (usually forest cover) 2a) % natural water areas 2b) % artificial water areas 3) % agriculture (including areas used for grazing) 4) % urban areas (including industry) 5) % areas used for mining, logging or other resource extraction operation Calculation of land use change in a basin: % land use change = sum (2b+3+4+5) % natural/original land use = sum (1+2a) Category Rating of land use 90% natural land use (near natural) 75-<90% natural land use (slightly modified)* 50-<75% natural land use (moderately modified)* 25-<50% natural land use (extensively modified)* <25% natural land use (completely modified) Numerical value * if more that 20% of modified area is urban the rating value is decreased by 1 point (2=>1 or 1=>0)

36 Land use subindex CORINE LAND COVER (CLC 2006)

37 Land use subindex CORINE LAND COVER (CLC 2006)

38 Land use subindex Corine Land Cover 2006

39 Biological Importance Freshwater fish species diversity and threats list of freshwater fishes species was made for each river basin using Kottelat and Fryhof (2007) and all other available literature and GIS data number of threatened species in each category according to IUCN criteria (European Red List of freshwater fishes, Freyhof and Brooks, 2011) in each river basin was established number of endemic freshwater fish species in each river basin was determined number of rare, i.e. Natura 2000 species (Annex II, Habitat Directive) in each river basin was established ecology of fish species + expert judgment => list of fish spp. for every ERR

40 Biological Importance Freshwater fish species diversity and threats Fish Total Score (FTS) for fish threat status, endemicity and rareness was calculated for each river basin as follows: a=number of critically (CR) endangered fish species b= number of endangered (EN) fish species c= number of vulnerable (VU) fish species d=number of rare, i.e. Natura 2000 species e= number of endemic fish species Then, Fish Total Score (FTS) for each river basin is FTS= (6*a)+(4*b)+(2*c)+d+e ranking of river basins (based on FTS) was performed for each subecoregion

41 Biological Importance Protected Areas ranking position based on Fish Total Score and presence and type of protected area within which ERR is located was used for the assessment of the level of biological importance of every ERR three levels of biological importance: High, Medium or Low

42 Prioritization Total Biological Importance Integration matrix of condition value (C) and biological importance (BI) for the calculation of Total Biological Importance (TBI) TBI=C BI

43 Prioritization Total Score (TS) Total Score = Condition (C) + Total Biological Importance (TBI) Condition Biological Importance Total Score ERR_TS Max 50 Max 50 Max 100 ERR_ => Maximum score for candidate priority ERR with High Biological Importance and High Conditon is 100

44 Prioritization of candidate priority river reaches Priority Total score for ERR Very high High Medium Low 1-25

45 Prioritization

46 Representation analysis should ensure that all river types are represented in a subregion and subregion-country unit ERR with medium and low priority should be included to ensure representation of all river and habitat types on the level of subregion and also subregion-country unit final map iscombination of all candidate priority ERR whose protection would ensure long term preservation of freshwater biodiversity for each subregion and subregion-country unit

47 Prioritization + Representation

48 Prioritization + Representation + Connectivity

49 Thank you for your attention Questions?