Pau Fortuño

CREAF - Centre de Recerca Ecològica i Aplicacions Forestals

Dissemination article on temporary rivers. LIFE+ TRivers project www.lifetrivers.eu

In Europe, the implementation of the Water Framework Directive has been unable to provide a solution to determine the ecological status of Intermittent Rivers and Ephemeral Streams (IRES). A lack of adequate methods (developed exclusively for perennial streams), hydrological data, and limited recognition in environmental policies have posed a major...

Whilts the negative effects of industrial sewage discharge on aquatic communities are well known, how it affect to multi-taxa, and how communities are recovering trough upstream-downstream gradient is poorly studied. The present study examined the response of maprophytes, diatoms, macroinvertebrates and fish assemblages to the effluent from an indu...

Amphibians, the most threatened vertebrates globally, face risks due to climate change, habitat loss, and fragmentation. Their sensitivity to environmental changes highlights their importance as ecological indicators. Temporary rivers, influenced by geological, climatic, and anthropogenic factors, play a critical role in shaping biodiversity and co...

Temporary rivers, forming the majority of river networks worldwide, are key biodiversity hotspots. Despite their great value for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, they are often neglected in biomonitoring programs due to several challenges, such as their variable hydromorphology and the difficulty of establishing reference conditi...

Temporary rivers are aquatic ecosystems that alternate periods of water flow with dry periods. Diatoms are a group of unicellular microalgae with a high colonizing ability, but little is known about their responses to drying. We carried out different resistance and resilience experiments to evaluate temporal and spatial dispersal capacity of diatom...

Determine the ecological status of freshwater ecosystem is critical for ensuring ecosystem health and maintaining the services associated to such ecosystems. Freshwater macroinvertebrates respond predictably to environmental disturbances and are widely used in biomonitoring programs for assessing anthropogenic impacts. However, many freshwater spec...

In Mediterranean climate regions, intermittent rivers (IRs) harbor highly dynamic communities with species and trait composition changing over time and space. Simultaneously considering multiple biodiversity facets and a spatiotemporal perspective is, therefore, key to developing effective conservation strategies for these ecosystems. We studied th...

Temporary rivers (TRs) have been largely overlooked in conservation assessments. Because TRs are such dynamic ecosystems, spatial and temporal aspects of their hydrology and ecology need to be taken into account when designing conservation plans. The aim of this paper is to propose a set of recommendations that could be useful for managers to do th...

Los ríos temporales (RTs) son ecosistemas fluviales en los que los efectos de las perturbaciones antrópicas se mezclan con los de la propia perturbación natural que impone la temporalidad del flujo. A pesar de los avances en el conocimiento de los RTs, todavía persisten muchas lagunas de conocimiento que limitan el desarrollo de metodologías adecua...

Temporary rivers, forming the majority of river networks worldwide, are key biodiversity hotspots. Despite their great value for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, they are often neglected in biomonitoring programs. This is mainly due to several challenges such as their variable hydromorphology and the difficulty of establishing re...

A tenet of ecology is that temporal variability in ecological structure and processes tends to decrease with increasing spatial scales (from locales to regions) and levels of biological organization (from populations to communities). However, patterns in temporal variability across trophic levels and the mechanisms that produce them remain poorly u...

Hexapods in the Mediterranean Basin are very diverse in terms of species and biological traits, and have been used in both fundamental and applied research. The chapter covers different aspects of the biology and ecology of Hexapods, with special emphasis on those subjects that are relevant in the Mediterranean context. Moreover, it includes a taxo...

Identification and Ecology of Freshwater Arthropods in the Mediterranean Basin covers the entire Mediterranean basin, including parts of Europe, Asia, Africa and the Mediterranean islands, but excluding other biogeographic locations with Mediterranean climates located outside the region. The book provides an extensive description of the taxonomy an...

In Mediterranean climate regions, intermittent rivers (IRs) harbor highly dynamic communities with species and trait composition changing over time and space. Considering simultaneously multiple biodiversity facets and a spatiotemporal perspective is, therefore, key to develop effective conservation strategies for these ecosystems. We studied the s...

The growing interest in combining spatial and temporal patterns in nature has been fostered by the current availability of high‐frequency measurements. However, we still lack a methodological framework to process and interpret spatiotemporal datasets into meaningful values, adaptable to different time windows and/or responding to different spatial...

NEWSERA Blueprints for citizen science communication (#citscicomm) with and for quadruple helix stakeholders (citizens and society at large, academic scientists, public sector and policymakers, industry and SMES) and science and data journalists is an instrument that can serve a general audience, including those who are planning to start a citizen...

Monitoring the condition (water quality, biodiversity, hydromorphology) of small water bodies presents a challenge for the relevant authorities in terms of time and resources (labour and financial) due to the extensive length of the stream network or the sheer number of small standing water bodies. Citizen science can help address information gaps,...

The temporal stability of ecological properties increases with spatial scale and levels of biological organization, but how does it propagate across trophic levels? We compiled 35 metacommunity time-series datasets spanning basal resources (e.g., phytoplankton) to top predators (e.g., piscivorous fish) from 384 freshwater sites across three contine...

Rivers are dynamic ecosystems in which both human impacts and climate‐driven drying events are increasingly common. These anthropogenic and natural stressors interact to influence the biodiversity and functioning of river ecosystems. Disentangling ecological responses to these interacting stressors is necessary to guide management actions that supp...

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) mandates to incorporate the participation of stakeholders and the general public in the development and updating of the river basin management plans. So far, the WFD implementation has been mainly focused on perennial rivers without considering temporary rivers properly, neither in biomonitoring programs...

The biomonitoring methods implemented by water authorities are mostly developed for perennial rivers, and do not apply to temporary rivers (TRs). We propose a new classification for TRs to better assess their ecological status. It arises from the LIFE+ TRivers project, which was conducted in the Catalan and the Júcar Mediterranean river basin distr...

Temporary rivers are characterized by shifting habitats between flowing, isolated pools, and dry phases. Despite the fact that temporary rivers are currently receiving increasing attention by researchers and managers, the isolated pools phase has been largely disregarded. However, isolated pools in temporary rivers are transitional habitats of majo...

Versión hisponible de manera gratuita en este enlace: https://www.biophilia-fbbva.es/publicaciones/protocolo-para-el-diseno-de-reservas-naturales-fluviales-planificacion-sistematica-y-participacion-publica-2/

Aim To analyse temporal metacommunity dynamics in river networks in relation to hydrological conditions and dispersal. Location Fifteen river reaches from the Llobregat, Besòs and Foix catchments in the North‐Eastern Iberian Peninsula. Taxon Aquatic macroinvertebrates belonging to 99 different families. Methods We sampled aquatic macroinvertebra...

In a nutshell: ▪ There is a variety of benefits that IRES provide to our societies, from the provision of materials such as water and timber, to iconic species, the regulation of biogeochemical cycles, and space for cultural manifestation and as a corridor for both wild and herded animals. ▪ Drying and rewetting processes, timing and duration of...

Studying Intermittent Rivers and Ephemeral Streams (IRES) requires regular observations of streamflow. Unfortunately, intermittent streams are poorly monitored, particularly in temperate climates. To fill gaps in knowledge of the dynamics of intermittent streams, a pilot initiative within the SMIRES project (Datry et al., 2017, https://www.smires.e...

The waterbug Aphelocheirus aestivalis is herein recorded for the first time in Northeastern Iberian Peninsula, constituting the first citation of the family Aphelocheiridae in the region. Yet, later on in 1989, the description of three new endemic Iberian species belonging to Aphelocheirus implied the assumption that A. aestivalis was absent in the...

El document que us presentem és el resultat d'una iniciativa conjunta del Centre Promotor d'Aprenentatge Servei i de l'Oficina de Ciència Ciutadana de Barcelona que pretén acostar la ciència ciutadana i l'aprenentatge servei per assenyalar les semblances i explorar possibilitats de col·laboració.

Ecosystems experience natural disturbances and anthropogenic impacts that affect biological communities and ecological processes. When natural disturbance modifies anthropogenic impacts, current widely used bioassessment metrics can prevent accurate assessment of biological quality. Our aim was to assess the ability of biomonitoring metrics to dete...

Davant del canvi global i la gestió d'un recurs limitat com és l'aigua, és crucial saber com es relaciona la gestió dels recursos terrestres amb la dels aquàtics, especialment en zones de clima mediterrani. Amb un mínim d'un 85 % de cobertura vegetal, les conques estudiades (Rellinars, Talamanca, Mura, Vall d'Horta i Castelló) indiquen que l'evapot...

Des de 2015, i sobretot des de 2016, hi ha hagut un canvi en el model d'explotació de les captacions d'aigua de Sant Llorenç Savall. Hi ha hagut una millora de l'estat hidrològic del torrent de la Vall d'Horta en dis-minuir dràsticament l'extracció d'aigua de dos dels pous ubicats a la conca que causava que la riera quedés seca durant bona part de...

Els rius temporals mediterranis presenten una ictiofauna autòctona adaptada a la variabilitat hidrològica d'aquests sistemes. Tot i això, degut al canvi climàtic, a l'activitat humana i a la introducció d'espècies al-lòctones, la seva persistència es troba amenaçada. L'estudi, elaborat a quatre rieres del Parc Natural de Sant Llorenç del Munt i l'O...

Abiotic stress shapes how communities assemble and support ecological functions. However, it remains unclear whether artificially increasing or decreasing stress levels would lead to communities assembling predictably along a single axis of variation or along multiple context-dependent trajectories of change. In response to stress intensity alterat...

El proyecto TRivers contribuye a la aplicación de la Directiva Marco del Agua a los Ríos Temporales mediante el desarrollo de herramientas de evaluación del estado ecológico e hidrológico de estos ríos para mejorar su gestión y/o conservación. Dichas herramientas son el software TREHS (Temporary Rivers’ Ecological and Hydrological Status) y la apli...

RiuNet is an app for smartphones and tablets to be used by citizens to assess the hydrological status and ecological quality of a river following the guidelines of the EU Water Framework Directive. Using a simplified and interactive approach, this app guides the user for the current aquatic phase of the river by the time of sampling, the classifica...

Al llarg de 5 anys es van estudiar les comunitats de macroinvertebrats de trams de capçalera de dos torrents del Montseny de característiques i altitud similar però amb règims climàtics i hidrològics diferents, l’un de clima més temperat i amb règim permanent (torrent de Coll Pregon: Teb1), i l’altre de clima més mediterrani i amb règim intermitent...

Annual report of 2017 that the FEHMlab research group of the University of Barcelona performs for the Department of the Environment and the Area of Natural Areas of the Diputació de Barcelona. It is the final result of the studies of the CARIMED 2017 agreement (Efectes del Canvi Ambiental en les comunitats d'organismes dels RIus MEDiterranis). This...

Resum Els cursos d'aigua de la Serralada Litoral Catalana difícilment flueixen de manera permanent ja que les conques de drenatge són relativament petites i la major part d'anys s'hi dóna dèficit hídric. Aquest fet dificulta l'avaluació de l'estat ecològic d'aquests rius i rieres temporals, ja que els indicadors biològics utilitzats han estat disse...

El objetivo del proyecto es ofrecer a las administraciones herramientas de planificación sistemática (basadas en criterios científico-técnicos), conjuntamente con protocolos de participación pública, para el diseño de redes de reservas fluviales desarrollando, en este caso, una experiencia piloto en la cuenca del Ebro.

RESUMEN RIU.net es una aplicación para dispositivos móviles que permite evaluar de forma sencilla y fácil el estado ecológico de un río. La información obtenida se transmite a expertos de la Universidad de Barcelona quienes la revisan y publican en la web de la aplicación. Desde junio 2016 se han validado 83% de los registros que han abarcado todas...

OBJETIVE: Apply systematic conservation tools to design a network of freshwater protected areas that can meet pre-defined conservation targets (through stakeholder engagement) and that take into account the costs of implementing the reserves. The Ebro river basin is used as a case study due to its ecological and economic importance and to the wide...

The textile industry is one of the largest sectors globally, representing up to 20% of industrial water pollution. However, there is limited insight into how fluvial ecosystems respond and recover from this impact. From summer 2012 to spring 2013, we examined water quality and ecological status upstream and 1.5 km downstream the input of a textile...

Presentation of the first results of RiuNet citizen science project

Presentation of the first version of RiuNet app and its funcionalities.