Froude number for estimation of biodiversity in small Lithuanian rivers
2014
Geguzis, R., Aleksandras Stulginskis Univ., Akademija, Kauno reg. (Lithuania) | Baublys, R., Aleksandras Stulginskis Univ., Akademija, Kauno reg. (Lithuania) | Vaikasas, S., Aleksandras Stulginskis Univ., Akademija, Kauno reg. (Lithuania)
The majority of natural Lithuanian rivers were regulated during intensive land reclamation period. Straightening of rivers caused unfavourable conditions for biodiversity. Four tributaries of the Merkys River in the South Lithuania were selected to explore changes in biodiversity patterns and determine the relationships between flow energy distribution in beds and ecological status of selected rivers. The research has shown that variation of cross sections area was usually 1.2 to 2.3 times higher in natural beds as compared to regulated ones. The range of rivers flow energy, estimated by Froude number, values were characterized as higher in natural (0.0 to 0.35) streams than in regulated (0.0 to 0.20) ones. This is the reason why the biggest number of macroinvertebrate taxa during the research period was recorded in natural riverbeds and the lowest - in the fields of the regulated segments. The assessing the abundance of fish revealed that total fish density in natural river sections was four times higher than in regulated ones. The research has approved the importance of naturalness for biodiversity and rehabilitation of regulated rivers in Lithuania.
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