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Research on River Environmental Flows and Habitat Restoration

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Biodiversity and Functionality of Aquatic Ecosystems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 July 2025 | Viewed by 659

Special Issue Editors

Innovation Academy for Precision Measurement Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430077, China
Interests: ecohydraulic; ecohydrology; habitat; ecosystem; environmental flows; dam operation; fish; Chinese sturgeon; zoobenthos; reparian
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Guest Editor
North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power, Zhengzhou 450045, China
Interests: ecohydrology; ecological flow; river habitats; wetland ecosystem; ecological operation; ecological effects
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research, Beijing 100038, China
Interests: ecological flow; eco-environmental restoration; nature-based solutions; watershed eco-compensation; equilibrium optimization calculation; sustainable development; optimal decision-making; wetland ecosystem service
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rivers are essential for both human needs and biodiversity, but they face threats from human activities and climate change. In light of these challenges, there is an urgent need for interdisciplinary research to understand the ecological, hydrological, and environmental impacts of altered flow regimes on riverine ecosystems. This Special Issue aims to gather the latest scientific findings and technological advancements in river environmental flow management, evaluate the effectiveness of various habitat restoration techniques, and foster dialogue and collaboration to develop sustainable river management strategies.

Objectives of the Special Issue:

  • To explore the latest scientific findings and technological advancements in the field of river environmental flow management.
  • To understand the ecological, hydrological, and environmental impacts of altered flow regimes on riverine ecosystems.
  • To evaluate the effectiveness of various habitat restoration techniques and their implications for biodiversity conservation.
  • To foster interdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration to develop sustainable river management strategies.

Key Topics:

  • Assessment of environmental flow requirements for different river types and ecosystems.
  • Modelling and prediction of ecological flow regimes under climate change scenarios.
  • Impacts of hydropower development, water abstraction, and land-use changes on riverine habitats.
  • Restoration of riparian zones, floodplains, and wetlands for enhanced ecosystem services.
  • Integration of ecological flow and habitat restoration into water resource planning and policy.
  • Use of innovative technologies and monitoring tools for river ecosystem health assessment.

Dr. Xuan Ban
Prof. Dr. Wenxian Guo
Prof. Dr. Yicheng Fu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • environmental flows
  • riverine habitat restoration
  • ecosystem integrity
  • water resource planning
  • ecological flow management

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 4857 KiB  
Article
Effects of Restoration Through Nature-Based Solution on Benthic Biodiversity: A Case Study in a Northern Adriatic Lagoon
by Michele Mistri, Matteo Albéri, Enrico Chiarelli, Cinzia Cozzula, Federico Cunsolo, Nedime Irem Elek, Fabio Mantovani, Michele Padoan, Maria Grazia Paletta, Marco Pezzi, Kassandra Giulia Cristina Raptis, Andrea Augusto Sfriso, Adriano Sfriso, Virginia Strati and Cristina Munari
Water 2025, 17(3), 366; https://doi.org/10.3390/w17030366 - 27 Jan 2025
Viewed by 506
Abstract
In the Caleri lagoon, a coastal lagoon in the Po River Delta, Northern Adriatic, the transplant of the dwarf eelgrass Zostera noltei was used as a nature-based solution to attempt the ecological restoration of a previously depleted lagoon area. A total of 135 [...] Read more.
In the Caleri lagoon, a coastal lagoon in the Po River Delta, Northern Adriatic, the transplant of the dwarf eelgrass Zostera noltei was used as a nature-based solution to attempt the ecological restoration of a previously depleted lagoon area. A total of 135 15-cm-diameter sods were transplanted, with the donor site at the Venice lagoon. Using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), eelgrass transplants were mapped and monitored with great precision. After two years, the area covered by eelgrass increased from the initial 2.5 m2 to 60 m2. Changes in the community structure and on the frequency of biological traits of macrobenthos occurred at the transplant site, with a higher frequency of epifaunal predators and herbivores, and of organisms with longer life spans and larger body sizes. Sensitive and indifferent taxa were always higher in the transplant site than in the bare bottom control site, where opportunistic taxa continued to dominate. Ecological quality status measured through M-AMBI and HBFI indices showed a clear improvement in the transplant site. The rapid changes in benthos demonstrate that even relatively small-scale transplantation of dwarf eelgrass can restore faunal communities very rapidly. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on River Environmental Flows and Habitat Restoration)
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