Prioritising riparian ecotones to sustain and connect multiple biodiversity and functional components in river networks

RIPARIANET will leverage high-resolution remote-sensing information to answer the questions: i) how can we remotely assess riparian integrity and identify areas which provide effective connectivity allowing species biodiversity and ecosystem functions to persist through meta-ecological processes? ii) how can we disentangle the influence of local- and network-scale stressors and processes on riparian biodiversity to better implement river basin management schemes? iii) to what extent do currently existing protected areas in rivers account for the geometry of riparian networks and their multifunctionality?

We will address these questions in riparian networks within six river basins in Europe, from northern Boreal to Mediterranean systems, where the Swedish Sävar River represents the Boreal, by gathering local needs and interests from key stakeholders together with satellite imagery and GIS environmental data.

Then, riparian and river ecosystems functions will be modelled, and ecological hotspots will be identified through a GIS-based multi-criteria, including stakeholder inputs.

Finally, we will collect in-situ data to assess multiple measures of biodiversity and stressors, and scale-up this information to the network scale using geostatistical tools and advanced modelling.

The obtained knowledge will enable decision makers to identify protection gaps and ecological hotspots along riparian networks based on multiple biodiversity, functional and connectivity criteria.