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Water
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Flowing Waters and Threatened Aquatic Life
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Flowing Waters and Threatened Aquatic Life

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Biodiversity and Functionality of Aquatic Ecosystems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2021) | Viewed by 8385

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Rui Manuel Vitor Cortes

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Guest Editor
Department of Forest Sciences and Landscape Architecture, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Vila Real, Portugal
Interests: ecological assessment of water bodies; river restoration
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Sandra Mariza Veiga Monteiro

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Guest Editor
Department of Biology and Environment, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro, Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal
Interests: toxicity studies; ecotoxicology, biomarkers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Luís Filipe Sanches Fernandes

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Guest Editor
CITAB—Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environment and Biological Sciences, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal
Interests: flood-detention basins; rainwater harvesting for drought effects attenuation; hydrologic modeling at the catchment scale; water resources management; quality data; integrated monitoring of climate and environmental impacts; sustainability in agri-food and forestry ecosystems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Construction of dams modifies the hydrologic regime of streams, while the new environment causes the fall of native species and promotes the dissemination of tolerant exotic species. This is a consequence of a progressive increase of nutrients in the reservoir, deterioration of aquatic habitats, and also the limitation to the free circulation of species, inducing fragmentation. Bioindicators, namely, fish, benthic macroinvertebrates, and phytobenthos, are used individually to quantify water quality degradation, but in regulated rivers, hypolimnetic discharges and toxic sediment accumulation require an approach at different spatial and biological scales to include cumulative impacts. Integrating different assemblages, complemented with bioaccumulation studies, biomarker evaluation (biological responses at sub-organismal levels) or indicators of stream functioning may be a direction. On the other hand, mitigation should consider the entire catchment at various levels, from land use, habitat (aquatic and riparian habitats), and water quality improvement, also including strategies to limit the expansion of invasive species. Other tools can be considered, such as dam re-operation, to introduce the appropriate hydraulic conditions below the dam or to decrease water level fluctuations.

This Special Issue is intended to serve as an integrative view from monitoring to river restoration, from habitat to catchment scale, in ecosystems impacted by damming.

Prof. Dr. Rui Cortes
Prof. Dr. Sandra Mariza Monteiro
Prof. Dr. Luís Filipe Sanches Fernandes
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • bio-indicators
  • biomarkers
  • river regulation
  • connectivity
  • exotic species
  • reservoir
  • catchment

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 994 KiB  
Article
Acoustic and Light Selective Behavioral Guidance Systems for Freshwater Fish
by Joaquim Jesus, Rui Cortes and Amilcar Teixeira
Water 2021, 13(6), 745; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13060745 - 10 Mar 2021
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2413
Abstract
The use of non-physical barriers, particularly based on acoustic and luminous stimuli has been historically used to influence the behavior of fish, mainly for fishing purposes. Nowadays, behavioral barriers and guidance systems have been developed, not only to deter movements of fish, but [...] Read more.
The use of non-physical barriers, particularly based on acoustic and luminous stimuli has been historically used to influence the behavior of fish, mainly for fishing purposes. Nowadays, behavioral barriers and guidance systems have been developed, not only to deter movements of fish, but also to promote behavioral responses with the objective of native fish protection, in particular the potamodromous species, reducing their mortality in the hydraulic structures of dams and guiding them towards transposition systems or to replacement habitats in regularized water bodies. This review details the use of acoustic and luminous systems and their evolution in recent years (Scopus 2012–2019) for the development of selective behavioral barriers for fish. We found that recent technologies try to identify new acoustic and luminous sensory ranges. Ambient sound, sound of predators or luminous spectral bands with different wavelengths have been used to selectively stimulate target and non-target species, in order to improve the effectiveness of repulsive/attractive systems for fish. Guidelines for future research in the area are also present. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flowing Waters and Threatened Aquatic Life)
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13 pages, 7019 KiB  
Article
A Method for Estimating the Risk of Dam Reservoir Silting in Fire-Prone Watersheds: A Study in Douro River, Portugal
by Daniela Patrícia Salgado Terêncio, Rui Manuel Vitor Cortes, Fernando António Leal Pacheco, João Paulo Moura and Luís Filipe Sanches Fernandes
Water 2020, 12(11), 2959; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12112959 - 22 Oct 2020
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3268
Abstract
Forest fires are an increasing problem over recent decades. The fires, among other consequences, lead to an increase in the soil vulnerability to water erosion and a consequent increase in sedimentation rates. When barriers are present, such as dams or weirs, there is [...] Read more.
Forest fires are an increasing problem over recent decades. The fires, among other consequences, lead to an increase in the soil vulnerability to water erosion and a consequent increase in sedimentation rates. When barriers are present, such as dams or weirs, there is an amplified risk of sediment and ash deposition in their reservoirs, causing siltation. Thus, there is an interest in studying in more detail the risk of siltation of barriers and reservoirs in the Douro River watershed following wildfires. A detailed barrier inventory was lacking for the Douro River, hampering the identification of siltation-prone areas. In order to fill in this gap, an extensive inventory of barriers in the Douro river basin was carried out for the present study. The result was an abundant and reliable dataset on the Douro River barriers, which allowed a prognosis on the watershed siltation risk. The method for calculating the siltation risk relied on the relationship between the frequency of forest fires, the erosion risk and the frequency of reservoirs. The sub-basins with the greater siltation risk are the Tâmega, Corgo, Sousa and Paiva river basins. Most reservoirs with the highest siltation risk were from small dams. The modelling results were compared with stream connectivity and concentrations of stream water phosphorus (associated with the sediments that flow into the rivers due to the fires). With regard to connectivity, only two reservoirs were at high risk of sedimentation due to fires, so the categories of connectivity risk and fire-based sedimentation risk are probably not related. With regard to risk of high phosphorus loadings, in 8 basins the upper classes for fire-based erosion risk coincided with the upper class for phosphorus loadings suggesting that high phosphorus loading could be associated with fire-based erosion. This study works as a simple but reliable example on the assessment and mapping of siltation risk in stream networks intersected by abundant barriers. It allowed for identifying barriers that can accumulate a large quantity of fine sediments and ashes, interfering with water quality and soil erosion as well as with the storage capacity of the respective barriers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flowing Waters and Threatened Aquatic Life)
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25 pages, 5861 KiB  
Article
Current and Future Ecological Status Assessment: A New Holistic Approach for Watershed Management
by André R. Fonseca, João A. Santos, Simone G.P. Varandas, Sandra M. Monteiro, José L. Martinho, Rui M.V. Cortes and Edna Cabecinha
Water 2020, 12(10), 2839; https://doi.org/10.3390/w12102839 - 13 Oct 2020
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2131
Abstract
The Paiva River catchment, located in Portugal, integrates the Natura 2000 network of European Union nature protection areas. Resorting to topography, climate and land-use data, a semi-distributed hydrological model (Hydrological Simulation Program–FORTRAN) was run in order to simulate the hydrological cycle of the [...] Read more.
The Paiva River catchment, located in Portugal, integrates the Natura 2000 network of European Union nature protection areas. Resorting to topography, climate and land-use data, a semi-distributed hydrological model (Hydrological Simulation Program–FORTRAN) was run in order to simulate the hydrological cycle of the river and its tributaries. The model was calibrated over a 25-year period and validated within a 31-year period. Its performance was verified by comparing the recorded and simulated daily flows. The values of the Nash–Sutcliffe coefficient of efficiency of 0.95 and 0.76, and coefficient of determination of 0.95 and 0.82, were achieved for calibration and validation, respectively, thus showing a quite satisfactory model performance. Subsequently, the climate change impacts on temperature and precipitation, as well as their extremes, and on the flowrates were also assessed for a future period (2041–2070) under two anthropogenic forcing scenarios (representative concentration pathways 4.5 and 8.5). A procedure for selecting the most relevant metrics for assessing the ecological condition of the Paiva River was developed based upon a set of 52 invertebrate families sampled. Correspondence analyses were carried out for biological datasets (traits/metrics) with physicochemical and land use/land cover matrices separately. Out of all variables, water quality and flow and agriculture land use explained most of the variance observed. The integrated analysis undertaken in the present study is an important advance when compared to previous studies and it provides key information to stakeholders and decision-makers, particularly when planning suitable adaptation measures to cope with changing climates in the forthcoming decades. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Flowing Waters and Threatened Aquatic Life)
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