Re-meandering German lowland streams: qualitative and quantitative effects of restoration measures on hydromorphology and macroinvertebrates

Published source details Lorenz A.W., Jähnig S.C. & Hering D. (2009) Re-meandering German lowland streams: qualitative and quantitative effects of restoration measures on hydromorphology and macroinvertebrates. Environmental Management, 44, 745-754.
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Summary

Action: Restore/create rivers (multiple interventions)

A replicated, paired, site comparison study in 2005 in two rivers in Germany (Lorenz et al. 2009) reported that restored reaches had greater cover of submerged macrophytes than degraded reaches. Statistical significance was not assessed. Submerged macrophytes covered 0.4–19.8% of the riverbed in restored reaches, compared to 0–0.8% in degraded reaches. Methods: In summer 2005, submerged macrophyte cover was surveyed in two reaches in each of two lowland rivers (20 bank-to-bank transects, 10 m apart). In each river, one reach had been restored 2–10 years ago and one reach (≤1 km away) was not restored (left straightened). Restoration involved multiple interventions along a 1.0–1.9 km reach: remeandering and lowering the adjacent floodplain (both rivers), adding wood and cobbles to the channel (one river), widening the channel, removing bank fixations, and planting riparian trees (one river). This study used two of the rivers in Lorenz et al. (2012), but examined different reaches of those rivers.