Geografie 2010, 115, 284-307
Ecological survey of river habitat diversity: trans-boundary cooperation in the Ore Mountains (Krušné hory, Erzgebirge)
Results of a trans-boundary ecological survey of the cross-border Rolava and Weisseritz river catchments in the Erzgebirge/Krušné hory are presented. An optimized method to assess the ecohydrological status of streams in keeping with the European Water Framework Directive has been developed. Guiding parameters for the hydromorphological survey were selected, used for (1) the German “Gewaesserstrukturguetekartierung” by the Field Survey method of the Laenderarbeitsgemeinschaft Wasser, (2) the Czech EcoRivHab method and (3) the Czech HEM method that additionally comply with the requirements of the European Standard EN 14614. Hydrochemical monitoring supported the interpretation of the hydrobiological data. The assessment followed the stream type specific background and orientation values. Hydrobiological monitoring focussed on benthic macroinvertebrates, stream type, and stressor specific assessment. Five ecohydrological quality classes were established from 1 (high) to 5 (bad), characterizing the state of the water course in the WFD context.
Keywords
ecological survey, hydromorphology, diversity, LAWA, EcoRivHab, EN 14614, WFD.
Funding
We gratefully thank the Czech Ministry of Education for its support of the interdisciplinary research project MSM 0021620831 on the Rolava catchment, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research for their generous support of the EMTAL project (BMBF, FKZ 02 WT 0078) with the Weisseritz catchment. We thankfully acknowledge support by the Saxon State Authorities and Administrations, LFUG, LTV, and the Water basin Authority Povodí Ohře, s. p., CHMI Prague, for data and information.
