Providing Basic Information for Integrated Management and Restoration of Rivers through Assessing the Human Pressures at Different Scales (Case Study: Talar River Catchment)

Document Type : Original Research Article

Authors

1 Department of Water Engineering and Management, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

2 Department of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management, Environmental Sciences Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

3 Department of Physical Geography, Faculty of Earth Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

River ecosystems face numerous human pressures that can lead to certain impacts on the environment. However, there is limited information available regarding the prevalence, spatial patterns, mutual impacts, and simultaneous occurrences of these pressures. In this study, we aimed to identify and assess various types of human pressures at different scales within the Talar River catchment. In this regard, a total of 43 sites within the Talar River catchment were selected for investigation. We employed a comprehensive approach by selecting 30 key indicators that represent major human pressures on river ecosystems. These indicators were combined to create a pressure index. The findings revealed that 93% of the studied sites experienced land use pressure, indicating significant human modification in those areas. Additionally, 69% of the sites were subjected to connectivity pressure, 88% to morphological pressure, 86% to water quality pressure, and 41% finally exhibited hydrological pressure. Importantly, our analysis also revealed complex interactions between multiple human pressures. Approximately 8.4% of the sites were affected by two distinct human pressures, while 2.3% experienced three overlapping pressures. Moreover, an overwhelming majority (92%) of the sites were impacted by combinations of more than three human pressures, emphasizing the cumulative impacts of all pressures. These findings underscore the need for comprehensive and systematic consideration of multiple factors when undertaking integrated river basin management and restoration efforts. In other words, effective management and restoration strategies should account for the different scales within the catchment and address the specific combinations of human pressures present.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

EFI+ Consortium, 2007. Improvement and spatial extension of the European Fish Index (EFI+).
European Commission, 2000. Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for community action in the field of water policy, Official Journal L., 327, 22/12/2000, p 73.
Falkenmark, M., 2013. Growing water scarcity in agriculture: future challenge to global water security. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 371(2002). 20120410.
Gergel, S.E., Turner, M.G., Miller, J.R., Melack, J.M. & Stanley, E.H., 2002. Landscape indicators of human impacts to riverine systems. Aquatic sciences., 64, 118-128.
Hejazi, M., Santos Da Silva, S.R., Miralles-Wilhelm, F., Kim, S., Kyle, P., Liu, Y. & Clarke, L., 2023. Impacts of water scarcity on agricultural production and electricity generation in the Middle East and North Africa, Frontiers in Environmental Science, 11, 157.
Kummu, M., De Moel, H., Porkka, M., Siebert, S., Varis, O. & Ward, P.J., 2012. Lost food, wasted resources: Global food supply chain losses and their impacts on freshwater, cropland, and fertiliser use. Science of the total environment, 438, 477-489.
Kummu, M., Guillaume, J.H., de Moel, H., Eisner, S., Florke, M., Porkka, M. & Ward, P.J., 2016. The world’s road to water scarcity: shortage and stress in the 20th century and pathways towards sustainability, Scientific reports, 6(1), 38495.
Lau, J.K., Lauer, T.E. & Weinman, M.L., 2006. Impacts of Channelization on Stream Habitats and Associated Fish Assemblages in East Central Indiana, The American Midland Naturalist, 156, 319-330.
Lemm, J.U., Venohr, M., Globevnik, L., Stefanidis, K., Panagopoulos, Y., van Gils, J. & Birk, S., 2020. Multiple stressors determine river ecological status at the European scale: Towards an integrated understanding of river status deterioration. Global Change Biology, 27(9), 1962-1975.
Lyons, J., Trimble, S.W. & Paine, L.K., 2000. Grass versus trees: managing riparian areas to benefit streams of central NorthAmerica.J.Am. Water Resour. Assoc., 36, 919-30.
Meybeck, M., Kummu, M. & Durr H.H., 2013. Global hydrobelts and hydroregions: improved reporting scale for water-related issues?. Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 17(3), 1093-1111.
Mostafavi, H., 2007. Fish biodiversity in Talar River, Mazandaran Province. Majale olom mohity (Iranian Journal of Environmental Studies), 32, 127-135.
Mostafavi, H., Mehrabian, A.R., Teimouri, A., Shafizadeh-Moghaddam, H. & Kambouzia, J., 2021. The Ecology and Modelling of the Freshwater Ecosystems in Iran. Part of the Aquiatic Ecology Series book. AQEC. v. 11.
Mostafavi, H., Schinegger, R., Melcher, A., Moder, K., Mielach, C. & Schmutz, S., 2015. A new fish-based multi-metric assessment index for cyprinid streams in the Iranian Caspian Sea Basin. Limnologica, 51, 37-52.
Mostafavi, H. & Teimori, A., 2018. Investigating multiple human pressure types in the southern Caspian Sea Basin Rivers at different spatial scales toward Integrating Water Resource Management (IWRM) in Iran. Anthropogenic Pollution, 2(1), 38-47.
Mostafavi, H., Teimori, A. & Hughes, R.M., 2022. Habitat and river riparian assessment in the Hyrcanian Forest Ecoregion in Iran: providing basic information for the river management and rehabilitation. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 194(11), 793.
Mostafavi, H., Teimori, A., Schinegger, R. & Schmutz, S., 2019. A new fish based multi-metric assessment index for cold-water streams of the southern Caspian Sea Basin in Iran. Environmental Biology of Fishes, 102, 645-662.
Nardini, A.G.C. & Conte, G., 2021. River management & restoration: What river do we wish for. Water, 13(10), 1336.
Osborne, L.L. and Wiley, M.J., 1988. Empirical Relationships between Land Use/Cover and Stream Water Quality in an Agricultural Watershed, Journal of Environmental Management, 26, 9-27.
Padmalal, D., Maya, K., Sreebha, S. & Sreeja, R., 2008. Environmental effects of river sand mining: A case from the river catchments of Vembanad lake, Southwest coast of India, Environmental Geology, 54, 879-889.
Paukert, C.P., Pitts, K.L., Whittier, J.B. & Olden, J.D., 2011. Development and assessment of a landscape-scale ecological threat index for the Lower Colorado River Basin. Ecological Indicators, 11, 304-310.
Paul, M.J. & Meyer, J.L., 2001. Streams in the urban landscape. Annu.Rev.Ecol. Syst., 32, 333-365.
Poff, N.L., Allan, D.J., Bain, M.B., Karr, J.R., Prestegaard, K.L., et al., 1997. The natural flow regime: a paradigm for conservation and restoration of riverine ecosystems, BioScience, 47, 769-784.
Pont, D., Hugueny, B., Beier, U., Goffaux, D., Melcher, A., Noble, R. & Schmutz, S., 2006. Assessing river biotic condition at a continental scale: a European approach using functional metrics and fish assemblages. Journal of Applied Ecology, 43(1), 70-80.
Quinn, J.M., 2000. Effects of pastoral development. New Zealand stream invertebrates: ecology and implications for management, 208-229.
Schinegger, R., Trautwein, C., Melcher, A. & Schmutz, S., 2012. Multiple human pressures and their spatial patterns in E uropean running waters. Water and Environment Journal, 26(2), 261-273.
Schmutz, S., Cowx, I.G., Haidvogl, G. & Pont, D., 2007. Fish-based methods for assessing European running waters: a synthesis, Fisheries management and ecology, 14, 369-380.
Vorosmarty, C.J., McIntyre, P.B., Gessner, M.O., Dudgeon, D., Prusevich, A., Green, P. & Davies, P.M., 2010. Global threats to human water security and river biodiversity. Nature, 467(7315), 555-561.
 

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics