TY - JOUR
T1 - Improving Ecological Response Monitoring of Environmental Flows
AU - King, Alison Jane
AU - Gawne, Ben
AU - Beesley, Leah
AU - Koehn, John
AU - Nielsen, Daryl
AU - Price, Amina
PY - 2015/5
Y1 - 2015/5
N2 - Environmental flows are now an important restoration technique in flow-degraded rivers, and with the increasing public scrutiny of their effectiveness and value, the importance of undertaking scientifically robust monitoring is now even more critical. Many existing environmental flow monitoring programs have poorly defined objectives, nonjustified indicator choices, weak experimental designs, poor statistical strength, and often focus on outcomes from a single event. These negative attributes make them difficult to learn from. We provide practical recommendations that aim to improve the performance, scientific robustness, and defensibility of environmental flow monitoring programs. We draw on the literature and knowledge gained from working with stakeholders and managers to design, implement, and monitor a range of environmental flow types. We recommend that (1) environmental flow monitoring programs should be implemented within an adaptive management framework; (2) objectives of environmental flow programs should be well defined, attainable, and based on an agreed conceptual understanding of the system; (3) program and intervention targets should be attainable, measurable, and inform program objectives; (4) intervention monitoring programs should improve our understanding of flow-ecological responses and related conceptual models; (5) indicator selection should be based on conceptual models, objectives, and prioritization approaches; (6) appropriate monitoring designs and statistical tools should be used to measure and determine ecological response; (7) responses should be measured within timeframes that are relevant to the indicator(s); (8) watering events should be treated as replicates of a larger experiment; (9) environmental flow outcomes should be reported using a standard suite of metadata. Incorporating these attributes into future monitoring programs should ensure their outcomes are transferable and measured with high scientific credibility.
AB - Environmental flows are now an important restoration technique in flow-degraded rivers, and with the increasing public scrutiny of their effectiveness and value, the importance of undertaking scientifically robust monitoring is now even more critical. Many existing environmental flow monitoring programs have poorly defined objectives, nonjustified indicator choices, weak experimental designs, poor statistical strength, and often focus on outcomes from a single event. These negative attributes make them difficult to learn from. We provide practical recommendations that aim to improve the performance, scientific robustness, and defensibility of environmental flow monitoring programs. We draw on the literature and knowledge gained from working with stakeholders and managers to design, implement, and monitor a range of environmental flow types. We recommend that (1) environmental flow monitoring programs should be implemented within an adaptive management framework; (2) objectives of environmental flow programs should be well defined, attainable, and based on an agreed conceptual understanding of the system; (3) program and intervention targets should be attainable, measurable, and inform program objectives; (4) intervention monitoring programs should improve our understanding of flow-ecological responses and related conceptual models; (5) indicator selection should be based on conceptual models, objectives, and prioritization approaches; (6) appropriate monitoring designs and statistical tools should be used to measure and determine ecological response; (7) responses should be measured within timeframes that are relevant to the indicator(s); (8) watering events should be treated as replicates of a larger experiment; (9) environmental flow outcomes should be reported using a standard suite of metadata. Incorporating these attributes into future monitoring programs should ensure their outcomes are transferable and measured with high scientific credibility.
KW - Design
KW - Ecology
KW - Environmental management
KW - Monitoring
KW - Restoration
KW - Statistical mechanics
KW - Adaptive Management
KW - Conceptual model
KW - Conceptual understanding
KW - Environmental water
KW - Practical recommendation
KW - Restoration techniques
KW - River restoration
KW - Statistical strength
KW - Environmental design
KW - chemistry
KW - ecology
KW - ecosystem restoration
KW - environmental monitoring
KW - government regulation
KW - human
KW - hydrology
KW - legislation and jurisprudence
KW - procedures
KW - river
KW - standards
KW - theoretical model
KW - water flow
KW - Environmental Monitoring
KW - Environmental Restoration and Remediation
KW - Government Regulation
KW - Humans
KW - Hydrology
KW - Models, Theoretical
KW - Rivers
KW - Water Movements
U2 - 10.1007/s00267-015-0456-6
DO - 10.1007/s00267-015-0456-6
M3 - Article
C2 - PubMed:25835945
VL - 55
SP - 991
EP - 1005
JO - Environmental Management
JF - Environmental Management
SN - 0364-152X
IS - 5
ER -