Work Package 3 of REFORM focuses on the impacts of hydromorphological changes on river and floodplain ecosystems. The main research objectives of deliverable 3.3 are:
To establish empirical relationships between the biota, flow dynamics, substrate complexity/habitat heterogeneity and sediment dynamics.
To select and develop candidate indicators for WFD quality elements that quantify impacts of hydrological and morphological degradation in rivers.
To develop novel biological indicators capable of diagnosing hydromorphological stressors in a multiple stressor environment.
To advise on the design of monitoring programs to detect hydrological and morphological degradation.
To address the importance to quantify uncertainty in biology based hydromorphological assessment and discuss the implications of uncertainty for monitoring and assessment.
