Author(s): Belize Lane; Gregory Pasternack
Linked Author(s): Gregory Pasternack
Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: We outline an extensible approach for synthesizing ecohydraulic, ecogeomorphic, and ecohydrologicinformation at the regional scale to improve spatially-explicit representation of environmental water needs at management scales. Just as the ELOHA framework uses regional hydrologic classification to stratify flow–ecology relationships by natural stream class, we propose the additional use of a reach-scale regional geomorphic classification to stratify flow–hydraulic suitability relationships by river type. Traditional flow assessmentapproaches are combined with several emerging methods to evaluate spatially-distributed ecosystem function performance under different water management scenarios. This approach can be used to test proposedenvironmental flows from other studies, to generate ecologically optimal flow regimes for a single ecosystem function of interest given human management constraints, or to evaluate tradeoffs across ecosystem functions or between human and ecosystem water needs.
Year: 2018