Publication details
Risk assessment of drying up of small streams in the Czech Republic
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| Year of publication | 2016 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | Categorization of the Czech Republic territory in terms of the risk of drying up of small streams (1st to 4th order by Strahler) was proposed. Three levels of risk (low, medium and high) were set for basic hydrological units (catchments). The risk levels were defined using selected abiotic characteristics of the hydrological units and their combinations. The selection of characteristics and their limit values were derived using a statistical method of classification trees. A set of sites divided into groups depending on whether they had been found drying or not was evaluated. The drying up of streams was detected by a new method of retrospective bioindication. This new method, which is based on the analysis of benthic macroinvertebrates, was developed within the comprehensive research of both permanent and drying up streams from 2012 to 2015. A total of 332 sites (1362 samples) located at small streams and monitored in the Czech Republic from 1997 to 2015 were evaluated by this method. The risk level was derived from the following characteristics: the precipitation deficit, land cover type, the share of bedrock containing clays, geomorphological characteristics and the share of standing waters in the catchment. According to our assessment the area of low risk of drying up of streams up to 4th Strahler order represents 45.3% of the area of the Czech Republic, while the area of medium and high risk 23.3% and 31.3% respectively. Typical high risk catchments are those with the predominance of arable land and with the share of standing water bodies greater than 1‰. The proposed categorization is to serve as a basis for decision-making processes, particularly for the water resource management, agriculture and conservation, and for the evaluation of the effect of measures against drought impacts. The categorization was based on the results of BIODROUGHT project (www.biodrought.eu). |