Vanesa Martínez Fernández

• PhD Advanced Forestry Research; Forestry Engineer
• Assistant Profesor at Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

Inland navigation in Europe is proposed to increase in the coming years, being promoted as a low-carbon form of transport. However, we currently lack knowledge on how this would impact biodiversity at large scales and interact with existing stressors. Here we addressed this knowledge gap by analysing fish and macroinvertebrate community time series...

Ephemeral rivers in the Mediterranean region have been exposed to significant human disturbance over the last century. Recently, there has been a growing interest in restoring their morpho-sedimentary condition, backed by the European Water Framework Directive. Previous research has highlighted the severe geomorphic impacts of sediment extraction,...

Worldwide, trajectories of deterioration of large rivers’ natural structure and functioning have been described and related to anthropogenic pressures acting at different spatio-temporal scales. However, the variety of methodologies, time-scale resolutions and the lack of standard indicators frequently hinder the comparison of outcomes among rivers...

España alberga una gran cantidad de ríos efímeros en la costa mediterránea, caracterizados por presentar caudal tan solo después de precipitaciones intensas o de larga duración. La ausencia de caudal permanente ha propiciado que hayan carecido de protección jurídica y reconocimiento social, favoreciendo también las actividades humanas, principalmen...

Freshwater navigation is expected to increase in the coming years, being promoted as a low-carbon form of transport. However, we currently lack knowledge on how this will impact biodiversity at large scales and interact with existing stressors. We addressed this knowledge gap by analyzing fish and macroinvertebrate community time series spanning th...

Riparian vegetation is highly dependent on dynamic river systems at all life stages. However, anthropogenic pressures have modified natural river landscapes, reducing their extent and causing severe limitations to the natural recruitment of riparian species. In particular, the recruitment of Salix species (willows) is highly dependent on fluvial pr...

The type of habitat occupied by avian populations has a marked effect on the parasitises they host. The growth of cities and urban areas in recent decades has favoured some species of birds adapted to these types of habitats - urban exploiters - although the effects of urbanisation on the parasitism of wildlife are not always well known. This study...

The analysis of willow forest decline in the Jarama River has been assessed through the study of morphological river conditions in three periods (1956, 1998 and 2018) together with active channel mobility ratios and changes in channel planform and vegetation coverage. Species composition of current riparian corridors at river segment scale and moni...

Riparian zones are the paragon of transitional ecosystems, providing critical habitat and ecosystem services that are especially threatened by global change. Following consultation with experts, 10 key challenges were identified to be addressed for riparian vegetation science and management improvement: (1) Create a distinct scientific community by...

The objective is to evaluate the effects of inter-basin water transfers on land use changes in the floodplain buffer area and the geomorphological evolution of a fluvial system on the receiving basin. Remote sensing techniques and machine learning algorithms have been combined with geomorphological indices for this purpose in the Zayandeh-rud Basin...

Las metodologías y herramientas que permitan conocer la evolución del corredor ripario tras actuaciones de restauración ecológica, son imprescindibles para monitorizar la eficiencia de las acciones desarrolladas, y el cumplimiento de los objetivos del proyecto. El uso de la tecnología LiDAR, la clasificación de imágenes y el uso de herramientas SIG...

The analysis of the temporal evolution of fluvial forms and processes using aerial photography has a high degree of subjective interpretation and a high time cost, making it difficult to implement in large study areas. In practice, this has meant that geomorphological cartography has not been sufficiently considered in the “hydromorphological” char...

Dear Colleagues, Natural riparian systems are some of the most diverse, dynamic and complex biophysical habitats in the world. The interactions among water flow, sediments and riparian vegetation generate a dynamic habitat mosaic that evolves driven by a variety of both natural and anthropogenic stimuli. Human land use practices in watersheds and p...

Nowadays, remote sensing and machine learning techniques provide an unprecedented potential for the monitoring of fluvial corridors. To exemplify their usefulness, the evolution of an international river was assessed to detect spatio-temporal changes and human artificialization of the international border between Iran and Azerbaijan along the perio...

Sustainable river management now encompasses a much wider concept that includes hydromorphological and fluvial habitat studies. In ephemeral streams, the geomorphological characterisation of channels is complex due to episodic flows and riparian vegetation dynamics. Stream channel survey and classification at the watershed scale provide the basis f...

Ecosystem Services Provided by Riparian Forests Riparian forests have the reputation of providing a disproportionate amount of ecosystem services (ES) to society, considering their spatial extent. Unfortunately, ES of riparian forests have been mostly overlooked, as ES are usually quantified using an unsuitably large spatial grain for such narrow...

River hydromorphology has long been subjected to huge anthropogenic pressures with severe negative impacts on related ecosystems’ functioning and water quality. Therefore, improving river hydromorphological conditions represents a priority task in sustainable river management and requires proper assessment tools. It is well known that riparian vege...

International rivers are one of the most politicized natural resources. Their dynamism, whether driven by the influence of natural processes or artificial drivers, can generate political issues between countries where de river is the common boundary. The present study has tried to discern the role of international riverine borders as a limiting fac...

Different levels of human pressures have modified the dynamism and the morphological pattern of most riparian environments worldwide. Among the anthropogenic agents, flow regulation by dams, gravel mining; artificial land use and land cover changes together with climate change are the most frequently studied. Medium and short term geomorphological...

The correct citation for the reference Martínez-Fernández et al. (2017b) is: Martínez-Fernández, V., González, E., López-Almansa, J.C., González, S.M., García de Jalón, D., 2017. Dismantling artificial levees and channel revetments promotes channel widening and regeneration of riparian vegetation over long river segments. Ecol. Eng. 108, 132–142. T...

Vegetation encroachment is an expected response of rivers to a decrease in their flow variability and flood magnitude and frequency. It frequently occurs together with channel narrowing and a decrease in braiding, both of which are likely associated with different human alterations but most frequently with river damming. Vegetation encroachment rat...

Given the vast amount of literature on the essential influence of riparian vegetation on observed river adjustments and trajectories, and the relative lack of consideration of riparian vegetation in the most frequently used hydromorphological protocols that consider riparian zones, we have two main objectives : - to review the hydromorphological co...

Vegetation encroachment is an expected response of rivers after decreasing their flow variability and flood magnitude and frequency. It frequently occurs together with channel narrowing and braiding decrease, all of them likely associated with different human alterations but most frequently with river damming. Vegetation encroachment ratios display...

Las actividades humanas en las llanuras de inundación interfieren negativamente en la regeneración de especies de la familia Salicaceae — álamos/chopos (Populus spp.) y sauces (Salix spp.), que desempeñan un papel clave en los ecosistemas riparios del hemisferio norte. La restauración ecológica inicialmente abordó este problema desde una perspectiv...

Efficient community indices and indicators are crucial for the adequate management and design of measures ensuring the ecosystem integrity. In this study we analyse the shape, sign and strength of the response of some biotic integrity indices and indicators of structure and function of fish communities along geo-climatic and human pressures gradien...

Identifying river segments with apparently distinct geomorphic characteristics but relatively homogeneous internal features may be critically helpful in designing network analysis for characterization, environmental assessment and river management. Automatic segmentation procedures using geographic tools and statistical methods provide objective an...

Resumen Los ríos de la Comunidad de Madrid se encuentran profundamente alterados en sus condiciones hidromorfológicas y biológicas debido a múltiples presiones. Para revertir este deterioro ambiental, la Dirección General de Medio Ambiente de la Comunidad de Madrid ha puesto en marcha un Plan de restauración de ríos. Dicho Plan se basa en estudios...

The encroachment of riparian vegetation is a widespread phenomenon in most of Mediterranean rivers. The causes of this process have been linked to changes in land use, to reduction of extensive livestock, to a great demand of water for irrigation, and currently, climate change is reinforcing it. These drivers have led to the stabilization of river...

Human activities on floodplains have severely disrupted the regeneration of foundation riparian shrub and tree species of the Salicaceae family (Populus and Salix spp.) throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Restoration ecologists initially tackled this problem from a terrestrial perspective that emphasized planting. More recently, floodplain restorat...

One of the direct consequences of flow regulation is the alteration of flow and stream temperature conditions, but studies describing and quantifying the response of biotic elements to changes in both variables have been sparsely done. This study analyzes macroinvertebrate community responses to flow regulation, through the study of discharge and s...

Climate change is expected to alter temperatures and precipitation patterns, affecting river flows and hence riparian corridors. In this context we have explored the potential evolution of riparian corridors under a dryness gradient of flow regimes associated with climate change in a Mediterranean river. We have applied an advanced bio-hydromorphod...

Longitudinal structures manipulation can re-activate channel migration and thus restore flood-dependent riparian plant communities in human-constrained floodplains. However, it has been rarely implemented over long restored river segments and has been infrequently assessed while taking into account river conditions prior to restoration. This study...

Este trabajo expone la dinámica de un bosque ripario afectado por la regulación de un gran embalse y cómo ha influido la implementación del caudal ecológico en la disposición espacial de las especies leñosas. El estudio de la evolución de las dimensiones del corredor ripario en el tiempo se ha realizado mediante el análisis diacrónico de las ortofo...

This paper introduces this special issue of Aquatic Sciences. It outlines a multi-scale, hierarchical framework for developing process-based understanding of catchment to reach hydromorphology that can aid design and delivery of sustainable river management solutions. The framework was developed within the REFORM (REstoring rivers FOR effective cat...

Fluvial system components, including riparian vegetation and channel morphology, are mostly structured by the hydrological conditions of the river. Hence, alteration of these hydrological conditions would inevitably lead to changes in river morphology and riparian vegetation. Climate change is an inevitable autonomous event which is going to alter...

Stream power measures the capacity of flowing water to develop adjustment processes in channel morphology, through the removal and transport of sediments. Thus, its quantitative evaluation along the river may be helpful to interpret the dynamic equilibrium of rivers and to design rehabilitation measures. The present paper analyzes the distribution...

Over the last decades, rivers and fluvial corridors have been noticeably modified from their natural conditions. In general, damming and other in-channel human interventions have been traditionally considered as the main drivers of change. However, recent studies highlight the influence of climate, hillslope and floodplain cover changes over fluvia...

Different pressures often co‐occur in rivers and act simultaneously on important processes and variables. This complicates the diagnosis of hydromorphological alterations and hampers the design of effective restoration measures. Here, we present a conceptual meta‐analysis that aims at identifying the most relevant hydromorphological processes and v...

Part 2 of Deliverable 6.2 provides detailed information on some specific aspect outlined in Part 1. In Annex A, a series of indicators is presented for the different stages of hydrological characterization, assessment of current status (alteration) and design (rehabilitation measures), including groundwater – surface water indicators. Annex B revie...

Segmenting the continuum of rivers into homogeneous reaches is an important issue in river research and management. Automatic procedures provide significance, objectivity, and repeatability. Although univariate techniques are frequently used to identify river reaches, multivariate approaches offer a more integrative context. Three nonparametric met...

This research presents an analysis of river responses to flow regulation and other disturbances over time. The study was conducted in the Porma and Curueño rivers, using the hierarchical multi-scale process-based framework developed within the European REFORM Project. The characterisation of the rivers at the landscape unit, segment and reach scale...

The aim of this deliverable is to address the impact of hydromorphological degradation on floodplain and riparian ecosystems, with specific focus on vegetation, fish and invertebrate responses and to provide guidance on how to identify those impacts. 􏰀 An introductory chapter summarises the research context and reviews the lessons for managers and...

Identifying homogeneous units along rivers is necessary to understand river functioning. Automatic segmentation using univariate and multivariate techniques provides more objective and efficient segmentations of the river systems and can be complementary to the expert criteria traditionally used. Moreover, automatic segmentation could be a powerful...

From an extensive literature review and met a-analyses, this study has i) ident ified the most import ant hydromorphological process related to river degradat ion and rehabilitat ion, ii) conceptually linked it to evolut ionary and funct ional response chains of aquat ic biota, and iii) provided empirical evidence and ecological data for the respec...

Astragalus gines-lopezii Talavera, Podlech, Devesa & F.M.Vázquez (Fabaceae) is a threatened endemic species with a distribution restricted to a very small area in Badajoz Province (Extremadura Region, SW Spain) and only 2 populations are known. This species was catalogued in the “Endangered” category in the 2008 Red List and the 2010 Threatened Spa...

Part 2 of Deliverable 2.1 provides fuller details concerning some specific topics outlined in Part 1. A method for automating delineation of river reaches is described and tested (Annex A). Information on the natural riparian and aquatic plant communities of Europe is tabulated (Annex B). Flow regime analysis (Annex C) is explored in far greater de...

Work Package 2 of REFORM focuses on hydromorphological and ecological processes and interactions within river systems with a particular emphasis on naturally functioning systems. It provides a context for research on the impacts of hydromorphological changes in Work Package 3 and for assessments of the effects of river restoration in Work Package 4...

In this paper we evaluate the effect of large dams on several Spanish rivers. Measurements of active channel and riparian corridor dimensions downstream from the dams were done in gravel-bed, sandy and silty-clay rivers. Hydrological alteration and geomorphic responses were analysed comparing pre and post-dam flow regimes and pre and post-dam aeria...

Flow regulation promotes riparian vegetation changes according to flood reduction and decrease of potential recruitment of pioneer species. In Mediterranean regions, additionally flow regulation is frequently associated to irrigation and increasing of natural low summer flows. This work aims to analyze damming effects in gravel bed rivers by compar...

European rivers have been altered by means of changing their morphology (straightening and canalisation, disconnecting channels from flood plains, occupying riparian lands, building dams, weirs, bank reinforcements, etc.) to facilitate agriculture and urbanisation, to enable energy production and protection against flooding. Also, water has been ab...

Astragalus gines-lopezii Talavera et al. es un endemismo de la provincia de Badajoz que cuenta con menos de 1000 ejemplares en 2 poblaciones: la más importante está en la Sª de Mª Andrés, en un matorral dominado por Cistus albidus, con Genista hirsuta, Cistus monspeliensis, Teucrium gr. polium, Retama sphaerocarpa, Quercus coccifera, etc. y pies di...

Astragalus gines-lopezii Talavera et al. se encuentra incluido en la Lista Roja 2008 en la categoría En Peligro (EN). Es un endemismo de área de distribución muy reducida, que tan solo cuenta con 2 poblaciones y un escaso número de ejemplares (menos que 1000). Con el objetivo de detectar posibles amenazas, hemos estudiado diferentes aspectos de su...