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Comparative Assessment of Environmental Flow Estimation Methods in a Mediterranean Mountain River

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Abstract

The ecological integrity of rivers ultimately depends on flow regime. Flow degradation is especially prominent in Mediterranean systems and assessing environmental flows in modified rivers is difficult, especially in environments with poor hydrologic monitoring and data availability. In many Mediterranean countries, which are characterized by pronounced natural variability and low summer flows, water management actions usually focus on prescribing minimum acceptable flows estimated by hydrologic methods. In this study, a comparative assessment of environmental flow estimation methods is developed in a river with poorly monitored flows and limited understanding of past reference conditions. This assessment incorporates both a hydrologic and a fish habitat simulation effort that takes into consideration hydrologic seasonality in a Greek mountainous river. The results of this study indicate that especially in data scarce regions the utilization of biotic indicators through habitat models, may provide valuable information, beyond that achievable with hydrologic methods, for developing regional environmental flow criteria. Despite the widespread use of the method, challenges in transferability of fish habitat simulation provide undefined levels of uncertainty and may require the concurrent use of different assessment tools and site-specific study.

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Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Francisco Martinez-Capel and Rafael Muñoz-Mas, in both field work and application of the habitat suitability models. This research was supported by funding from the Hellenic General Secretariat of Research and Technology in the framework of the NSRF 2007–2013, Project title “System for the Assessment of Acceptable Ecological Flows in Rivers and Streams of Greece, (ECOFLOW)”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hellenic Centre for Marine Research, Institute of Marine Biological Resources and Inland Waters, Anavyssos, Greece

    Christina Papadaki, Stamatis Zogaris & Elias Dimitriou

  2. Department of Natural Resources Management and Agricultural Engineering, Division of Water Resources Management, Agricultural University of Athens, Athens, Greece

    Konstantinos Soulis & Nicholas Dercas

  3. D. Argyropoulos & Associates, Tinou 2, 15562, Cholargos, Greece

    Lazaros Ntoanidis

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  1. Christina Papadaki
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  2. Konstantinos Soulis
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  3. Lazaros Ntoanidis
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  4. Stamatis Zogaris
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  5. Nicholas Dercas
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  6. Elias Dimitriou
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Correspondence to Elias Dimitriou.

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Papadaki, C., Soulis, K., Ntoanidis, L. et al. Comparative Assessment of Environmental Flow Estimation Methods in a Mediterranean Mountain River. Environmental Management 60, 280–292 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-017-0878-4

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