Linking Water Quality and Quantity in Environmental Flow Assessment in Deteriorated Ecosystems: A Food Web View

Abstract

Most rivers worldwide are highly regulated by anthropogenic activities through flow regulation and water pollution. Environmental flow regulation is used to reduce the effects of anthropogenic activities on aquatic ecosystems. Formulating flow alteration–ecological response relationships is a key factor in environmental flow assessment. Traditional environmental flow models are characterized by natural relationships between flow regimes and ecosystem factors. However, food webs are often altered from natural states, which disturb environmental flow assessment in such ecosystems. In ecosystems deteriorated by heavy anthropogenic activities, the effects of environmental flow regulation on species are difficult to assess with current modeling approaches. Environmental flow management compels the development of tools that link flow regimes and food webs in an ecosystem. Food web approaches are more suitable for the task because they are more adaptive for disordered multiple species in a food web deteriorated by anthropogenic activities. This paper presents a global method of environmental flow assessment in deteriorated aquatic ecosystems. Linkages between flow regimes and food web dynamics are modeled by incorporating multiple species into an ecosystem to explore ecosystem-based environmental flow management. The approach allows scientists and water resources managers to analyze environmental flows in deteriorated ecosystems in an ecosystem-based way.

Evaluation of water quality parameters using numerical modeling approach for the El-Salam Canal in Egypt

“…The health of water bodies and the river flow are incorporated with the mechanisms of the environment. The sustainability of the water environment is the objective of water quality conservation approaches such as the quantity and quality required to maintain water bodies at a safe level (Chen et al, 2013). In addition, most researches are concerned with the flow quantity to conserve the ecological health of a river (Scherman et al, 2003), which influence the water environment sustainability.…”

Spatio-Temporal Response of Sedimentary Diatoms to Water Level in a Shallow Lake

“…The seasonal water levels adopted the mean value of the daily water levels corresponding to each season. Historical water levels have been reconstructed using the indicative diatom species in the sediment core (Chen et al, 2013). According to the constructing time of the hydraulic projects on the upper reach of the lake and the dating results, the sediment core was separated into the relatively natural part (1827-1947 yr., lower layer: 80 -14cm) and the humandisturbed part (1948 -2008 yr., upper layer: 14 -0cm) (Guo et al, 2012).…”

“…We investigated the diatom assemblages in the sediment core and reconstructed the water levels based on the indicative diatom species (Chen et al, 2013). Thirty-four diatom species are simultaneously found in surface sediments and in the sediment core.…”

The Mexican Environmental Flow Standard: Scope, Application and Implementation

“…Thus the final output is to reduce the effects of anthropogenic activities on aquatic ecosystems. Changes can be followed by hydrological parameters, habitat availability, species presence-absence, condition factor, weight-length relationship and food webs, among others [23] …”