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Impact of hydrogeomorphic processes on ecological functions of brown trout habits

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An Erratum to this article was published on 04 September 2017

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Abstract

In recent decades, due to river regulations and their impact on river morphology, brown trout populations have been declining along Lar River downstream of Lar Dam located near Tehran, Iran. Considering the recent water scarcity in the country, development of river habitat assessment models seems necessary. Therefore, in this research, an analytically applied approach is adopted to evaluate brown trout habitat by creating a relation among the hydrologic, hydraulic, geomorphic and ecologic processes. After field survey, dimensionless shear stress of the stream flow thresholds including environmental flow, bankfull flow, surface and subsurface sediment flow thresholds was calculated for Lar, Dalichay and Sefidab Rivers using Shields formula. Then, by considering the dimensionless shear stress ranges of the stream flow thresholds, functional flows ranges and duration were calculated together with ecological efficiency of the cross sections. In addition, effects of annual water yield and entrenchment ratio of the cross sections on habitat functionality were also worked out as a result of which an exponential interaction was developed between the dimensionless shear stress and discharge. Results show that an increase in functional flows ranges and duration, together with rising of ecological efficiency, is directly proportional to an increase in median bed sediment size, entrenchment ratio and annual water yield. Therefore, flow regime, cross-sectional geometry, water-surface slope and bed sediment size could be effective on the ecological functions of the brown trout’s life cycle and functionality of river flow.

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  • 04 September 2017

    An erratum to this article has been published.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to express their gratitude to Tehran Regional Water Authority and Iran Water Resources Management Company for making data accessible throughout the course of this project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Technical and Engineering College of Abbaspour, Shahid Beheshti University, P.O. Box 16765-1719, Tehran, Iran

    M. R. Majdzadeh Tabatabai

  2. Marine Science and Technology Department, North Branch of Tehran, Islamic Azad University, P.O. Box 1987973133, Tehran, Iran

    R. Mousavi Nadushan

  3. River Engineering, Technical and Engineering College of Abbaspour, Shahid Beheshti University, P.O. Box 16765-1719, Tehran, Iran

    S. Hashemi

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  1. M. R. Majdzadeh Tabatabai
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Correspondence to M. R. Majdzadeh Tabatabai.

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Editorial responsibility: T. Yigitcanlar.

The original version of this article was revised: The title in the original version contained errors.

An erratum to this article is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-017-1496-7.

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Majdzadeh Tabatabai, M.R., Mousavi Nadushan, R. & Hashemi, S. Impact of hydrogeomorphic processes on ecological functions of brown trout habits. Int. J. Environ. Sci. Technol. 14, 1757–1770 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-017-1281-7

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