9 research outputs found
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Session A3: LIFE+ Segura Riverlink, Implementing a Green Infrastructure Approach
Abstract:
The Segura River, located in southeastern Spain, is one of the most regulated rivers in Europe, creating severe environmental problems and breaking connectivity. The LIFE + SEGURA RIVERLINK project, cofinanced by the LIFE Program, aims to promote and support the environmental recovery of the Segura River Basin by improving and strengthening the connectivity between natural ecosystems, promoting the conservation of an area with an exceptional environmental value and improving its public use.
The main actions include the removal of an unused weir and the construction of eight fish passages, being this a pilot experience in the Segura River Basin and a still uncommon practice in Mediterranean areas. To support these actions, ecological restorations will be implemented in each demonstration site.
The target specie of the project is the Luciobarbus sclateri (Southern Iberian barbel), Iberian endemism and the only autochthonous specie in the project. The rest of sentinel species are Pseudochondrostoma polylepis (Iberian nase), Gobio lozanoi (Pyrenean gudgeon) and Alburnus alburnus (Bleak). Monitoring activities will assess the performance of these actions with the hope of validating the Green Infrastructure approach in river basin management and its possible extension to the official River Basin Management Plan of the Segura River Basin.
The project also includes the creation of a Land Stewardship Network that seeks to involve different stakeholders in the river management as well as an Environmental Educational Program and a Volunteering Program to promote environmental awareness in society. This project will protect local aquatic and riverine habitats, allow fish migration along an important sector of the Segura River, improve ecosystem services, build a cadre of scientific and social knowledge to improve river management quality and help local and regional governments to comply with EU Water Framework Directive and facilitate the implementation and enforcement of EU policy and legislation on biodiversity conservation
Código de conduta. Prevenção da introdução e dispersão de flora e fauna exótica invasora: agentes ambientais
De forma intencional ou involuntária, o ser humano transporta espécies entre locais desde tempos imemoriais. No entanto, nos últimos 50 anos, o ritmo de introdução de espécies exóticas no meio natural acelerou de forma alarmante, tornando-se numa das principais causas de perda de biodiversidade. A globalização, juntamente com as alterações climáticas, a destruição de habitats, o aumento do trânsito de pessoas e o comércio, são hoje os principais responsáveis pela perda de biodiversidade a nível global, acarretando também graves prejuízos para a economia e a saúde humana
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Barrier Tracker - Using citizen science to build the most comprehensive atlas of barriers in Europe
There is already a substantial amount of data in existence on the barriers within European rivers. However, even for the most comprehensively audited countries, data is patchy and often of poor quality. Proper assessment and prioritisation of remedial action cannot be undertaken until the full picture is known. Barrier Tracker, part of the Adaptive Management of Barriers in European Rivers (AMBER) project, seeks to address this issue by using a smartphone app to crowd-source data from across Europe. Initially available in 9 languages the app allows anyone to record the barriers they encounter. The app has been designed to allow a low-level of minimum information to be provided in order to reduce complexity for inexperienced recorders. However, a certain sub-set of data is always required to ensure the data is still useful.
The app also features an interactive map which displays both the app generated data and all of the currently known barrier data from Europe. This means that a recorder can easily check their local area to see if the barriers they encounter have already been recorded. It also provides motivation for recorders to tackle under-recorded areas.
A specially designed citizen science web portal has also been designed to work alongside the app. Owing the fact that many thousands of records are anticipated, the portal contains a section to allow members of the public to classify the barrier data. Classification ultimately leads to verification and/or re-determination of records. Each record has to be classified a minimum number of times and with a set percentage of agreement before verification occurs. Citizen scientists can, therefore, assist with the entire life-cycle of the data.
Having only just gone live at the time of writing, in its first two weeks the app generated over 600 records of barriers from across Europe
Código de conduta. Prevenção da introdução e dispersão de flora e fauna exótica invasora: agentes ambientais
De forma intencional ou involuntária, o ser humano transporta espécies entre locais desde tempos imemoriais. No entanto, nos últimos 50 anos, o ritmo de introdução de espécies exóticas no meio natural acelerou de forma alarmante, tornando-se numa das principais causas de perda de biodiversidade. A globalização, juntamente com as alterações climáticas, a destruição de habitats, o aumento do trânsito de pessoas e o comércio, são hoje os principais responsáveis pela perda de biodiversidade a nível global, acarretando também graves prejuízos para a economia e a saúde humana
More than one million barriers fragment Europe’s rivers
Rivers support some of Earth’s richest biodiversity1 and provide essential ecosystem services to society2, but they are often fragmented by barriers to free flow3. In Europe, attempts to quantify river connectivity have been hampered by the absence of a harmonized barrier database. Here we show that there are at least 1.2 million instream barriers in 36 European countries (with a mean density of 0.74 barriers per kilometre), 68 per cent of which are structures less than two metres in height that are often overlooked. Standardized walkover surveys along 2,715 kilometres of stream length for 147 rivers indicate that existing records underestimate barrier numbers by about 61 per cent. The highest barrier densities occur in the heavily modified rivers of central Europe and the lowest barrier densities occur in the most remote, sparsely populated alpine areas. Across Europe, the main predictors of barrier density are agricultural pressure, density of river-road crossings, extent of surface water and elevation. Relatively unfragmented rivers are still found in the Balkans, the Baltic states and parts of Scandinavia and southern Europe, but these require urgent protection from proposed dam developments. Our findings could inform the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy, which aims to reconnect 25,000 kilometres of Europe’s rivers by 2030, but achieving this will require a paradigm shift in river restoration that recognizes the widespread impacts caused by small barriers
A multi-taxa assessment of aquatic non-indigenous species introduced into Iberian freshwater and transitional waters
Aquatic ecosystems are particularly vulnerable to the introduction of non-indigenous species (NIS), leading to multi-faceted ecological, economic and health impacts worldwide. The Iberian Peninsula comprises an exceptionally biodiverse Mediterranean region with a high number of threatened and endemic aquatic species, most of them strongly impacted by biological invasions. Following a structured approach that combines a systematic review of available information and expert opinion, we provide a comprehensive and updated multi-taxa inventory of aquatic NIS (fungi, macroalgae, vascular plants, invertebrates and vertebrates) in Iberian inland waters. Moreover, we assess overall patterns in the establishment status, introduction pathways, native range and temporal introduction trends of listed NIS. In addition, we discuss the legal coverage provided by both national (Spanish and Portuguese) and European NIS regulations. We inventoried 326 aquatic NIS in Iberian inland waters, including 215 established, 96 with uncertain establishment status and 15 cryptogenic taxa. Invertebrates (54.6%) and vertebrates (24.5%) were the groups with the highest number of NIS, with Arthropoda, Mollusca, and Chordata being the most represented phyla. Recorded NIS originated from diverse geographic regions, with North and South America being the most frequent. Vertebrates and vascular plants were mostly introduced through intentional pathways (i.e. release and escape), whereas invertebrates and macroalgae arrived mostly through unintentional ways (i.e. contaminant or stowaway). Most of the recorded NIS were introduced in Iberian inland waters over the second half of the 20th century, with a high number of NIS introductions being reported in the 2000s. While only 8% of the recorded NIS appear in the European Union list of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern, around 25% are listed in the Spanish and Portuguese NIS regulations. This study provides the most updated checklist of Iberian aquatic NIS, meeting the requirements set by the EU regulation and providing a baseline for the evaluation of its application. We point out the need for coordinated transnational strategies to properly tackle aquatic invasions across borders of the EU members
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More than one million barriers fragment Europe’s rivers
Rivers support some of Earth’s richest biodiversity and provide essential ecosystem services to society, but they are often fragmented by barriers to free flow. In Europe, attempts to quantify river connectivity have been hampered by the absence of a harmonized barrier database. Here we show that there are at least 1.2 million instream barriers in 36 European countries (with a mean density of 0.74 barriers per kilometre), 68 per cent of which are structures less than two metres in height that are often overlooked. Standardized walkover surveys along 2,715 kilometres of stream length for 147 rivers indicate that existing records underestimate barrier numbers by about 61 per cent. The highest barrier densities occur in the heavily modified rivers of central Europe and the lowest barrier densities occur in the most remote, sparsely populated alpine areas. Across Europe, the main predictors of barrier density are agricultural pressure, density of river-road crossings, extent of surface water and elevation. Relatively unfragmented rivers are still found in the Balkans, the Baltic states and parts of Scandinavia and southern Europe, but these require urgent protection from proposed dam developments. Our findings could inform the implementation of the EU Biodiversity Strategy, which aims to reconnect 25,000 kilometres of Europe’s rivers by 2030, but achieving this will require a paradigm shift in river restoration that recognizes the widespread impacts caused by small barriers
Lista de especies exóticas acuáticas de la Península Ibérica (2020)
Se presenta una lista actualizada de las especies exóticas que se encuentran en etapa de establecimiento o de propagación de la invasión en aguas continentales de la península ibérica. La lista está basada en la evaluación sistemática de los datos en colaboración con un amplio equipo de expertos de España y Portugal. Esta lista de actualización es un instrumento de apoyo importante para la aplicación del Reglamento de la Unión Europea (UE) sobre las especies exóticas invasoras (EEI) y también proporciona una base objetiva para el examen de su aplicación. En última instancia, la información incluida puede utilizarse para supervisar el cumplimiento del objetivo de la Estrategia de la UE sobre diversidad biológica hasta 2030 para combatir las EEI, pero también para la aplicación de otras políticas de la UE con requisitos sobre especies exóticas, como las Directivas de Hábitats y Aves, la Directiva Marco sobre la Estrategia Marina (DMEM) y la Directiva Marco del Agua (DMA)
Lista de especies exóticas acuáticas de la Península Ibérica (2020)
Se presenta una lista actualizada de las especies exóticas que se encuentran en etapa de establecimiento o de propagación de la invasión en aguas continentales de la península ibérica. La lista está basada en la evaluación sistemática de los datos en colaboración con un amplio equipo de expertos de España y Portugal. Esta lista de actualización es un instrumento de apoyo importante para la aplicación del Reglamento de la Unión Europea (UE) sobre las especies exóticas invasoras (EEI) y también proporciona una base objetiva para el examen de su aplicación. En última instancia, la información incluida puede utilizarse para supervisar el cumplimiento del objetivo de la Estrategia de la UE sobre diversidad biológica hasta 2030 para combatir las EEI, pero también para la aplicación de otras políticas de la UE con requisitos sobre especies exóticas, como las Directivas de Hábitats y Aves, la Directiva Marco sobre la Estrategia Marina (DMEM) y la Directiva Marco del Agua (DMA)