Biological Sciences News
Freshwater stream protocols set out in recently published book
(9 Oct 2009) Two Canterbury University biological scientists have been involved in the production of a new book to aid those managing our country’s river and stream systems.
Freshwater Ecology Research Group members senior lecturer Dr Jon Harding and postdoctoral research fellow Dr Hamish Greig (Biological Sciences) were part of a collaboration that has produced Stream Habitat Assessment Protocols for wadeable rivers and streams in New Zealand, a guide and reference book which provides a suite of practical, cost-effective and standardised protocols for the assessment of physical habitat in New Zealand’s streams and rivers.
The book was a collaborative effort involving scientists from the Cawthron Institute, NIWA, Massey University, Tasman District Council, Environment Canterbury, Otago Regional Council and Golder Associates.
Development of the protocols was funded by
Envirolink, a regional council-driven funding
scheme administered by the Foundation for
Research, Science and Technology, and with
that support the group was able to develop
and publish the protocols and offer it free
to freshwater practitioners. The protocols
include physical GIS data for every catchment
in the country, and details on how to measure
stream hydrology and morphology, riparian
condition and in-stream characteristics.
“The National Government has set three priorities for the environment and one of those is improved management of freshwater systems,” said Dr Harding.
It is intended that the information and resources provided in Stream Habitat Assessment Protocols will allow practitioners to more accurately and consistently measure the current state of stream and river habitats. Importantly these protocols should enable much better identification of spatial and temporal trends in the physical condition of streams.
Historically, much of the focus of stream assessments have been on measuring water quality and collecting ecological information about algae, invertebrate and fish communities and less emphasis has been placed on collecting hydrological, riparian or stream morphology data.
“Part of the reason for that has been a lack of robust, consistent methods to measure the physical attributes of streams. These protocols plug that gap,” said Dr Harding. Increasing pressures to extract water from New Zealand’s streams and rivers has meant that understanding the relationship between flow levels and stream communities has become more important. Similarly, greater demands for stream restoration and effective riparian management have occurred as understanding of the importance of riparian and habitat conditions in maintaining the structure and function of healthy streams has increased.
“It will be used by anyone and everyone in the freshwater management game,” said Dr Harding, who has already fielded dozens of requests for copies of the book which, he said, was part recipe book, part reference text.
• Stream Habitat Assessment Protocols for wadeable rivers and streams of New Zealand, by Jon Harding, Joanne Clapcott, John Quinn, John Hayes, Mike Joy, Richard Storey, Hamish Greig, Joe Hay, Trevor James, March Beech, Rachael Ozane, Adrian Meredith and Ian Boothroyd, published by the University of Canterbury Freshwater Ecology Research Group, August 2009, paperback + CD, 133 pp, ISNB 978-0-0473-15151-5.