Rui Rivaes

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Verified

Rui verified their affiliation via an institutional email.

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• Forest Engineering; PhD in River Restoration and Management
• Researcher at University of Lisbon

To avoid the spread and environmental impacts of the European catfish (Silurus glanis), which arrived in Portugal around 2006, it is fundamental to understand anglers’ behaviors and perceptions. To address this need, 339 Portuguese anglers were surveyed online and face-to-face and divided into two groups (catfish anglers, n = 115; and non-catfish a...

This document aims to provide to a wide public a protocol for sampling the European/wels catfish (Silurus glanis) in lakes and reservoirs. It is based on over 30 years of experiences of BCCAS Fish Ecology Unit (www.fishecu.cz) with European/wels catfish sampling in the native area of the Czech Republic (both reservoirs and lakes), direct sampling o...

To avoid the spread and environmental impacts of the European catfish (Silurus glanis), which have arrived to Portugal around 2006, it is fundamental to understand anglers’ behaviors and perceptions. To address this need 339 Portuguese anglers were surveyed online and face-to-face and divided into two groups (catfish anglers, n=115; and non-catfish...

European catfish is a large-bodied apex predator, a key species in native areas, but invasive in others where it negatively impacts local aquatic fauna necessitates catfish regulation. However, traditional ichthyological methods face challenges in capturing it. The study presents a detailed description of the efficient long-line method, refined thr...

Angling plays a crucial role in promoting freshwater fish introductions in several regions of the globe, particularly for apex predators like the European catfish (Silurus glanis). To optimize the management strategy to avoid the spread and environmental impacts of invasive species is fundamental to understand major trends on sport-recreational fis...

Invasive species pose a significant threat to biodiversity and ecosystem functioning worldwide. However, impact assessment studies on native ecosystems have mostly been conducted during later invasion stages, after the species is well established and the impacts have already occurred. A recent invader in Portuguese freshwater systems is the Europea...

Rivers are powerful systems supporting human civilization, but despite the enormous dependence on rivers by humans, this does not stop them to assault rivers in the most varied ways. Such dependency determines the establishment of strong river flow-human relationships, and river degradation the prompting of health and non-tangible complications for...

Major threats of freshwater systems are river damming and habitat degradation, further amplified by climate change, another major driver of biodiversity loss. This study aims to understand the effects of climate change, and its repercussions on hydropower production, on the instream biota of a regulated river. Particularly, it aims to ascertain how...

Climate change represents a major challenge for the management of native fish communities in Mediterranean rivers, as reductions in discharge may lead to a decrease in passability through small barriers such as weirs, both in temporary and perennial rivers. Through hydraulic modelling, we investigated how discharges from a large hydropower plant in...

Riverine areas are considered large carbon reserves because they support long-term woody communities, which in their natural state are dense and diverse. In this study, we analysed the carbon storage alterations across 20.5 km of riverine Sampling Units (SUs) downstream Touvedo (a run-of-river dam) and Fronhas (a storage reservoir), by adopting a L...

Dams modify geomorphology, water quantity, quality and timing of stream flows affecting ecosystem functioning and aquatic biota. In this study, we addressed the structural and functional macroinvertebrate community alterations in different instream mesohabitats of two Portuguese rivers impaired by dams. We sampled macroinvertebrates in riffles, run...

This work assesses the effects of river regulation on the diversity of different instream and riparian biological communities along a relieve gradient of disturbance in regulated rivers. Two case studies in Portugal were used, with different river regulation typology (downstream of run-of-river and reservoir dams), where regulated and free-flowing...

Dam-induced disruption of the natural continuum of rivers has manifold consequences on fluvial ecosystems, but how distinct plant groups and plant adaptive strategies can mediate the regulation effects is largely unexplored. In this work, we focused on how different plant groups (macrophytes, bryophytes, and riparian woody vegetation) respond to hy...

Large rivers on the Iberian Peninsula reflect a long-history of human interventions and natural disturbances in the fluvial corridors and on the surrounding valleys. In this study we aim to characterize the river morphology in pre-regulation times and understand the morphological changes of the large river Tagus (Central Portugal), across space and...

River fragmentation by large hydropower plants (LHP) has been recognized as a major threat for potamodromous fish. Fishways have thus been built to partially restore connectivity, with fish lifts representing the most cost-effective type at high head obstacles. This study assessed the effectiveness with which a fish lift in a LHP on the River Lima...

In Portugal, more than 150.000 ha of eucalypt plantations are managed in compliance with international certification systems. The objective of this work was to evaluate the biodiversity and the ecological quality of streams associated with certified eucalypt plantations, using different aquatic communities as biological quality indicators – fish, a...

The data content of this paper is related to the original research article entitled “Vegetation Structure and Effects of Human Use of the Dambo Ecosystem in Northern Mozambique” that was published in the Global Ecology and Conservation. Woody and grass vegetation was inventoried in the dambos wetlands of the Niassa National Reserve (NNR), the large...

The Niassa National Reserve (NNR) is the most extensive conservation area in Mozambique and the third largest in Africa, encompassing 42,000 km2 of endemic miombo vegetation. Dambos wetlands occur within the wooded grassland and grassland vegetation of NNR and provide a wide range of Ecosystem Services (ES), including life support for animal specie...

Fish kills are widespread visible events perceived by the civil society as a major cause for concern about water quality and ecosystem health. Investigations conducted so far have linked fish kills to multiple factors, but extensive studies examining quantitatively the likelihood of fish kills are missing. In the present study, factors related to f...

This thesis composes an assessment of the flow regime effects on the structure and functioning of riparian vegetation, as well as, the influence of the respective vegetation changes back on the aquatic communities and fluvial processes. The expected flow regimes driven by climate change originate amendments in riparian vegetation, characterized mai...

The gradual increase in temperature over the last few decades is one of the major consequences of global change. It is also projected that drought frequency and intensity in the Mediterranean region will increase, promoting changes in plant responses to environmental conditions and ultimately species distribution. Studying past growth trends can he...

Freshwater fish from the Mediterranean region are amongst the most threatened species worldwide due to increasing river degradation. Because of such threats, the number of river restoration projects has greatly increased. However, they are seldom planned with inputs from the species' life history, often resulting in erroneous practices that failed...

The main objective of this study is to characterize the hydromorphological evolution of Tagus and Minho rivers, using a planform image analysis, and assess the contribution of human disturbance to global change. We performed a temporal analysis by choosing dates representing a pre-regulation period (19th century) and a post-regulation period (21th...

Mediterranean rivers in intensive agricultural watersheds usually display outgrowths of macrophytes – notably alien species – due to a combination of high concentrations of nutrients in the water runoff and low flows resulting from water abstraction for irrigation. Standard mechanical and chemical control is used to mitigate the problems associated...

Environmental flows remain biased toward the traditional biological group of fish species. Consequently, these flows ignore the inter-annual flow variability that rules species with longer lifecycles and therefore disregard the long-term perspective of the riverine ecosystem. We analyzed the importance of considering riparian requirements for the l...

Endemic freshwater fish from the Mediterranean region are among the most threatened species in the world owing to increasing river degradation. Because of such threats, the number of river restoration projects has greatly increased. However, they are seldom planned with consideration of the species' life history, often resulting in erroneous practi...

Fluvial disturbances, especially floods and droughts, are the main drivers of the successional patterns of riparian vegetation. Those disturbances control the riparian landscape dynamics through the direct interaction between flow and vegetation. The main aim of this work is to investigate the specific paths by which fluvial disturbances, distribut...

Climate change and river regulation are negatively impacting riparian vegetation. To evaluate these impacts, process-based models are preferred over data-driven approaches. However, they require extensive knowledge about ecohydrological processes. To facilitate the implementation of such process-based models, the key drivers of riparian woodland su...

Riparian succession drivers regarding patch location and shape

Long-term changes of fluvial landscapes: evolutionary trajectories of vegetation patterns

Temperature rising trend since the 1970’s has been pointed out as one major consequence of climate change affecting plant growth response to environmental conditions. The unprecedented temperature records in recent history makes vegetation response difficult to predict challenging management actions in the near future.

Flow regime determines physical habitat conditions and local biotic configuration. The development of environmental flow guidelines to support the river integrity is becoming a major concern in water resources management. In this study, we analysed two sites located in southern part of Portugal, respectively at Odelouca and Ocreza Rivers, character...

Flow regime determines physical habitat conditions and local biotic configuration. The development of environmental flow guidelines to support the river integrity is becoming a major concern in water resources management. In this study, we analysed two sites located in southern part of Portugal, respectively at Odelouca and Ocreza Rivers, character...

Environmental flows remain biased toward the traditional biological group of fish species. Accordingly, these flows ignore the inter-annual flow variability that rules species with longer life cycles, thereby disregarding the long-term perspective of the riverine ecosystem. We analyzed the influence of considering riparian requirements for the long...

Niassa National Reserve (NNR) is the most extensive conservation area in Mozambique and the third largest in Africa, Encompassing 42,000 Km2 of miombo woodland. Due to the importance of the dambos formation in the maintenance of forest, fauna and aquatic diversity in the miombo woodlands, in 2015 we assessed the vegetation structure and composition...

p>The CASiMiR-vegetation model is a software that recreates the physical processes influencing the survival and recruitment of riparian vegetation, based on the relationship between ecologically relevant flow regime components and riparian vegetation metrics that reflect the vegetation’s responses to flow regime change. Working at a flow response g...

Fragmentation of the river continuum by high dams has been reported as one of the most important factors believed to contribute to declines of upstream-migrating European yellow-phase eel (Anguilla anguilla). Fish lifts seem to represent the most cost-effective type of fishway for improving longitudinal connectivity for many fish species across the...

The CASiMiR-vegetation model is a software that recreates the physical processes influencing the survival and recruitment of riparian vegetation, based on the relationship between ecologically relevant flow regime components and riparian vegetation metrics that reflect the vegetation’s responses to flow regime change. Working at a flow response gui...

Os regimes de caudais ecológicos aplicados em Portugal, com base em métodos de simulação de habitat, mantêm-se enviesados para o tradicional grupo biológico da fauna piscícola e ignoram a variabilidade interanual característica dos regimes hidrológicos naturais, privando os atuais regimes de caudais ecológicos de uma perspetiva de longo prazo do ec...

Fragmentation of the river continuum by high dams and subsequent reduction in habitat availability has been cited as an important factor contributing to population decline of inland stocks of European eel (Anguilla anguilla). Eels have typically difficulty using traditional fishways because water velocities and turbulence limit their upstream movem...

In Portugal, the definition of environmental flows is generally based on aquatic species requirements and disregards other biotic components of the fluvial ecosystem. Such approach excludes the interanual variability that rules longer lifecycles from the practiced environmental flows, therefore removing its long-term perspective of the fluvial syst...

Environmental flows remain biased towards the traditional fish biological group and ignore the inter-annual flow variability that rules longer species life cycles, thus disregarding the long-term perspective of the riverine ecosystem. Incorporating riparian vegetation requirements into environmental flows could bring an important contribute to fill...

River regulation is a global phenomenon and will intensify due to increased water demand and climate change. Flow restoration is required from water managers but a robust tool does not exist yet for Mediterranean rivers. This thesis aims to develop a holistic approach to determine environmental flows with a long-term perspective of the fluvial syst...

The disturbance requirements of riparian vegetation were determined in two Mediterranean rivers based on riparian vegetation modeling. The assessment of the riparian vegetation disturbance requirements was consistent in selecting the best disturbance regime. Such outcome may suggest the probable applicability of this approach to rivers in general a...

One of the most salient causes of the degradation of freshwater systems is the physical habitat changes attributed to river damming. Environmental flows reduce such degradation but are still generally based on the requirements of aquatic species and disregard other biotic components of the ecosystem, such as riparian vegetation. Nevertheless, when...

Global circulation models forecasts indicate a future temperature and rainfall pattern modification worldwide. Such phenomena will become particularly evident in Europe where climate modifications could be more severe than the average change at the global level. As such, river flow regimes are expected to change, with resultant impacts on aquatic a...

Environmental flows essentially consider intra-annual cycles and disregard the inter-annual variability existing on fluvial systems. Current approaches neglect flow components which are of extreme importance to maintain biophysical and ecological processes of groundwater and riparian ecosystems, while concentrating mostly on instream features. The...

Environmental flows essentially consider intra-annual cycles and disregard the inter-annual variability existing on fluvial systems. Current approaches neglect flow components which are of extreme importance to maintain biophysical and ecological processes of groundwater and riparian ecosystems, while concentrating mostly on instream features. The...

This study aims to determine i) the seasonal and daily upstream movement patterns; ii) the environmental factors associated with the triggering of the upstream migration and iii) the ability of European yellow eels (Anguilla anguilla) in using fish lifts during their upward migration. Upstream passage was continuously monitored over an annual cycle...

Em Portugal, a definição de caudais ecológicos é realizada maioritariamente com base nos requisitos de espécies aquáticas e desconsidera os restantes componentes bióticos do ecossistema fluvial. Tal abordagem exclui dos regimes de caudais ecológicos praticados a variabilidade interanual que governa os ciclos de vida longos, amputando ao método a pe...

Em Portugal, a definição de caudais ecológicos é realizada maioritariamente com base nos requisitos de espécies aquáticas e desconsidera os restantes componentes bióticos do ecossistema fluvial. Tal abordagem exclui dos regimes de caudais ecológicos praticados a variabilidade interanual que governa os ciclos de vida longos, amputando ao método a pe...

Em todo o mundo diferentes tipos de passagens para peixes têm sido construídas com o objectivo de mitigar o impacto da construção de grandes barragens sobre a ictiofauna. Entre estas, os ascensores para peixes contam-se entre mais difundidas para a transposição de peixes para montante através de grandes barragens. O aproveitamento hidroelétrico de...

Functional responses of riparian species can be used as surrogates for their vulnerability to climate-driven changes. In particular, black alder (Alnus glutinosa [L.] Gaertn.) might be highly susceptible to changes in habitat at the southern limit of its biogeographical distribution in the Mediterranean Basin. In this study, the long-term environme...

This study aims to evaluate the long-term impacts of climate change on Alpine riparian vegetation. Special attention is given to the hydrological factors influencing the establishment, development, and retrogression of riparian vegetation. The study has been carried out in a reach of the upper course of the Drau River (Austria). Long-term effects o...

Riparian ecosystems are required to be preserved to achieve a good ecological status. The Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) specifically supports the assessment of new management tools that allow the European Member States to achieve good ecological status of river-related ecosystems. Within several approaches, a dynamic riparian vegetation di...

This chapter examines causal interactions between physical habitat and floodplain vegetation. The complex network of hierarchical relationships illustrates the understanding of riparian ecosystem functioning. The relationships between riparian vegetation and fluvial hydraulic processes are considered and used to build a conceptual dynamic floodplai...

Mediterranean regions are characterized by a large intra-annual and inter-annual variability in rainfall and associated hydrological regime patterns. Predictions of changes in climate indicate that mean precipitation and annual temperature will both increase, with a concentration of precipitation and the existence of extended and harsher drought pe...

A metric was developed for assessing anthropogenic impacts on aquatic macrophyte ecology by scoring macrophyte species along the main gradient of community change. A measure of ecological quality was then calculated by Weighted Averaging (WA) of these species scores at a monitoring site, and comparison to a reference condition score. This metric wa...

We used a dynamic floodplain vegetation model to predict the riparian patch disposal of a regulated river stretch driven by different reservoir flows. Specifically, we discuss the responses of riparian vegetation to an environmental flow release proposal, as well as other different altered flow regimes, in order to assess the long term ecological v...

The present study is part of an IWRM ERA-NET (European Research Area-NET, Regional or National research programs network on Integrated Water Resource Management) project named "RIPFLOW - Riparian vegetation modeling for the assessment of environmental flow regimes and climate change impacts within the WFD''. The project aims to develop a flexible d...

Resumo O sucesso dos projectos de restauro depende da visão espácio-temporal da dinâmica fluvial e suas comunidades. A vegetação ripária, constituindo um sistema de transição semiterrestre influenciado regularmente por água doce, apresenta-se como um bioindicador das alterações hidrológicas. Sendo possível quantificar a sua reacção ao regime hídric...

O sucesso dos projectos de restauro depende da visão espácio-temporal da dinâmica fluvial e suas comunidades. A vegetação ripária, constituindo um sistema de transição semiterrestre influenciado regularmente por água doce, apresenta-se como um bioindicador das alterações hidrológicas. Sendo possível quantificar a sua reacção ao regime hídrico, torn...

A total of 77 reservoirs from Western Iberia were studied and three reservoir types identified through their environmental descriptors. Using data available for 32 of these reservoirs, we related variables of human pressure (e.g. area of irrigated crops) to variables expressing the effects of it (e.g. concentration of chlorophyll a), thus selecting...