Bioindicator Assessment Framework of River Ecosystem Health and the Detection of Factors Influencing the Health of the Huai River Basin, China
Publication: Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 19, Issue 8
Abstract
River ecosystem health assessments are a hot topic in global water resources management. The Huai River Basin is a representative basin faced with serious environmental problems due to high water pollution and numerous water projects. Comprehensive investigation of the factors affecting river ecosystem health is an urgent precursor to the successful management of the Huai River Basin. Based on a series of aquatic ecosystem indicators, monitoring, and standards, such as phytoplankton, zooplankton, and benthic macroinvertebrate data, an assessment framework of river ecosystem health is proposed using a multistep gray correlation evaluation method. Environmental impact factors including climate, land cover, edaphic factors, hydrology, water projects, and water quality were identified using the Kruskal-Wallis test and distance-based redundancy analysis method. The ecosystem was found to be subhealthy with 44% () of sites in a healthy condition, 51% () subhealthy, and 5% () unhealthy. Climate and hydrology were the dominant factors that together contributed 37.5, 24.1, and 6.9% of the variation in phytoplankton, zooplankton, and benthic macroinvertebrates, respectively. The main variables affecting variation were minimum temperature, relative humidity, solar radiation, and the magnitude, frequency, duration, and timing of monthly runoff. Together, these variables explained 24.5% of the variation in the ecosystem health of the whole river. Thus, to improve river ecosystem health in the basin, the regulation of dams and sluices should give priority to ecological outcomes, and the threat of climate change should not be underestimated. This paper provides a blueprint for ongoing ecological monitoring and restoration programs in China, and is expected to be a successful case and reference to transition from water quantity management to river health management in the Huai River Basin.
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Acknowledgments
This paper was supported by Huai River Project for Major Science and Technology Program for Water Pollution Control and Treatment (No. 2014ZX07204-006), and Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41271005). Thanks to Cheng Xushui, Zhou Jiebing, and Zhang Yanzai from Huai River Water Resources Protection Bureau; Dr. Zhang Liang Dr. Liu Xin from Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences; and Prof. Liu Min and Dr. Lin Xiao from East China Normal University for their contribution for samples collection; and Dr. Rob Rolls from Griffith University, Australia, for data analysis. Thanks to Elsevier languages editors, Stephen Fujiwara in University of Technology Sydney, Kass Hingee in the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation Mathematical and Information Sciences, Australia, and Dr Xiaoyan Zhai in Wuhan University, China, for their help to revise the paper. Thanks also to the anonymous referees for their valuable comments and suggestions, which significantly improved the quality of the paper.
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Journal of Hydrologic Engineering
Volume 19 • Issue 8 • August 2014
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© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Jul 7, 2013
Accepted: Feb 21, 2014
Published online: Feb 24, 2014
Published in print: Aug 1, 2014
Discussion open until: Oct 28, 2014
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