The river restoration 'ecological toolbox': simultaneously examining biomonitoring indices to guide catchment management strategies

Significant reductions in the biodiversity of freshwater ecosystems have prompted a surge in river restoration efforts in recent decades. However, restoration has often delivered modest ecological benefits. Therefore, tools that can identify the key pressure(s) compromising ecosystem health and help identify the likelihood of ecological recovery following restoration are urgently required.

Macroinvertebrate biomonitoring tools developed in the UK could help address this pressing need as they characterise and quantify the ecological effects of different anthropogenic stressors - including eutrophication, flow regime alterations and fine sediment pressures. However, little research has examined the response of multiple biomonitoring indices simultaneously to inform sustainable river restoration strategies.

This PhD will address this research gap by developing and testing an 'ecological toolbox' that identifies primary stressor(s) stressing river ecosystems and the likelihood of promoting ecological recovery after different restoration interventions. The PhD will draw on historic and contemporary river restoration projects across the UK to quantify macroinvertebrate communities responses to different interventions at different spatial scales.

This will provide a greater causal understanding of the ecological mechanisms and macroinvertebrate community responses to different river restoration activities and highlight when and where effective measures have been implemented. This evidence will be used to further refine and improve the ecological toolbox and its ability to predict sustainable river restoration interventions.