Two steps back, one step forward: reconstructing the dynamic Danube riverscape under human influence in Vienna

Abstract

As part of an interdisciplinary project on the environmental history of the Viennese Danube, the past river landscape was reconstructed. This article describes the different types of historical sources used for the GIS-based reconstruction, the underlying methodological approach and its limitations regarding reliability and information value. The reconstruction was based on three cornerstones: (1) the available historical sources; (2) knowledge about morphological processes typical for the Austrian Danube prior to regulation; and (3) the interpretation of past hydraulic measures with respect to their effectiveness and their impact on the river’s behaviour. We compiled ten historical states of the riverscape step-by-step going backwards in time to the early 16th century. After one historical situation had been completed, we evaluated its relevance for the temporally younger situations and whether corrections would have to be made. Such a regressive-iterative approach allows for permanent critical revision of the reconstructed time segments already processed. The resulting maps of the Danube floodplain from 1529 to 2010 provide a solid basis for interpreting the environmental conditions for Vienna’s urban development. They also help to localise certain riverine and urban landmarks (such as river arms or bridges) relevant for the history of Vienna. We conclude that the diversity of approaches and findings of the historical and natural sciences (river morphology, hydrology) provide key synergies.

Channelization of a large Alpine river: what is left of its original morphodynamics?

“…A remarkable feature of the Adige planform before channelization was the presence of anabranching reaches, characterized by multiple, relatively stable secondary channels with large forested islands. At that time, this pattern was quite common in mild‐sloping (0.1–0.3%), wide valleys of the Alps (Comiti, ; Campana et al ., ) as well as in other large European rivers, such as the Danube (Hohensinner et al ., , b).…”

Urban Geomorphological Heritage. An Overview

“…The digitization of territorial features allows the quantification of changes over time (appearance and disappearance of elements, Stäuble et al 2008, Baud and Reynard 2015, Clivaz and Reynard 2017. This approach was particularly used for the reconstruction of river landscape evolution in urban contexts; among the numerous studies are the works on the Danube River in Vienna (special issue of Water History, 2013, in particular Winiwarter et al 2013, Hohensinner et al 2013a, b, Haidvogel et al 2013, on the Garonne River in Toulouse, France (Valette, Carozza 2013) or on the Rhone River in Lyon, France (Bethemont, Bravard 2014).…”

Use of long‐term data to evaluate loss and endangerment status of Natura 2000 habitats and effects of protected areas

“…The reconstruction of past habitat changes faces methodological challenges, data limitations, and uncertainties (e.g., Grossinger et al 2007;Biró et al 2013;Kaim et al 2016). However, if one uses a variety of historical sources (military and cadaster maps, travel diaries, botanical descriptions, archival aerial, and satellite imagery), longterm changes can be reconstructed in detail (Gimmi et al 2011;Hohensinner et al 2013). With our point-based methods (and use of iterative habitat-type estimation and information transfer between historical sources), longterm (>100-200 years) field-based data sets could be generated for most common or relatively common habitat types over large areas.…”

“…To make reliable and detailed long-term reconstructions of habitat loss for finer-level habitat types, we developed a pointbased, iterative method. This method involves information transfer between data sources (information from one database is transferred to another database) carried out on the basis of expert knowledge to overcome problems caused by data limitations, topographical incompatibilities among historical sources, and the abiotic heterogeneity of patches (e.g., Hohensinner et al 2013;Munteanu et al 2015;Kaim et al 2016).…”