A 20-Year View of Monitoring Ecological Quality in English and Welsh Rivers

摘要

The period 1990-2010 was a time of major change in UK river management. It included the reorganization of statutory environmental agencies in 1995-1996, the introduction of new legislation, notably the European Habitats Directive and Water Framework Directive (WFD; Council of the European Communities, 1992, 2000), and major investment by water companies to control point-source pollution. There was also growing concern about the ecological impacts of climate change and the physical modification of rivers (Vaughan et al., 2009). Systematic river monitoring is essential to answer questions about the extent and consequences of change. It provides information on the current state of the environment, including the spatial, distribution of biological communities and environmental attributes, and the changes that may have occurred over time (Yoccoz et al., 2001). Collectively, these provide the fundamental information for environmental management: what is being managed and what has changed in response to management interventions and other factors (Yoccoz et al., 2001).