RIPFLOW - Riparian vegetation modelling for the assessment of environmental flow regimes and climate change impacts within the WFD

The two general goals aimed in this project were 1, the development of a dynamic riparian model and 2, its application to the case studies of 3 European countries. The corresponding specific objectives were as follows: 1.a) the development of a flexible dynamic model of riparian habitats and vegetation to be easily applied in a wide range of conditions across Europe, from humid regions of Austria to Mediterranean conditions, including rivers with permanent and non-permanent flow regimes. Two important key elements of this model were the soil-moisture submodel (to consider the effect of low flows or droughts) and the succession submodel (to consider the effect of floods). 1.b) the creation of a software to run such a model (called RIPFLOW), in a user-friendly interface, with easy data input and management, and the clear and necessary outputs to give decision support in the implementation of the WFD by the water managers and also consultancy companies working on environmental flow assessments and river restoration 1.c) the implemention of a tool in the software to assess the ecological status - sensu WFD - for alternative flow regimes, based on indexes developed in the 3 partners countries, which is flexible to incorporate the calculation of another indexes. 1.d) the identification and application of cost-effective methods for the acquisition of biological information needed to calibrate the model in most regions of the European Union 2.a) the calibration of the model in nearly totally undisturbed conditions, and its validation in model sites with altered flow regime 2.b) helping water managers in learning and the practical application of the results in water management (potential use in River Basins Plans) 2.c) identifying scientific based guidelines for assessing the impacts of altered hydrology on riparian vegetation, due to climate change or dam operation rules, considering extreme hydrological events like droughts and floods (trans-national context)