20 / 2015-11-20 06:06:20

Climate change adaptation and mitigation measures in riverine systems

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Human impact on aquatic ecosystems causes that surface waters often suffer from significant hydromorphological and hydrological alterations and changes in adjacent floodplains. These changes impact the water body status and therefore need to be addressed in the near future. Land use in stream basin often exhibited high loads of sediments and surface runoff that affect stream water quality. It leads to collapse of stream biota and permanent eutrophication caused by excess nutrient inputs. Generally, main efforts are under way to restore watersheds, but restoration planning rarely accounts for projected climate change. There is indicated a large negative impact of climate change on freshwater habitats. Therefore, restoration and protection help to mitigate the adverse effects and may enable populations to survive in conditions of climate change. The authors analyse impacts of climate change on streamflow hydrology, present projected changes of climate conditions in Slovakia and their impact on streams and summarize principles of channel-floodplain geosystem restoration that enables to approach to the state of dynamic stability as a basic assumption for increasing of „absorbing capacity” of freshwater ecosystems in climate change conditions.