River restoration biodiversity conservation: a disorder approach

摘要

The manifestation of the riverscape is the result of an array of discontinuous, non-equilibrium processes operating at different scales, influenced by geographic, hydro- and bio-ecoregions in the river basin. We propose a multidimensional and multiscale approach to define conservation objectives for river ecosystems. This 'River Disorder Approach' provides a framework for deriving objectives from observed patterns and structures in the river system, resulting from the discontinuous processes among the various temporal and spatial scales. In contrast with common views of rivers as continuous and self-repeating in components and patterns, we identified the non-equilibrium and stochastic processes as fundamental to the definition of conservation objectives. This plead for idiosyncratic, non-deterministic setting of targets should improve the implementation of river basin management.