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ETC-Project ProFor Weinviertel:Process-orientated research about the self-purification of small, heavily impacted streams in Weinviertel (A) and South Moravia (CZ): Development of a guideline for sustainable restoration measures to improve water quality
PI: T Hein
2009-2011
Due to the dominating agricultural land use, most small streams in the Weinviertel (Lower Austria) and in South Moravia (Czech Republic) are heavily modified and carry high amounts of nutrients and fine particle loads. Together with the low precipitation in the region, this leads to a marked confinement of the streams’ integrity and to an undesirable ecological status. The aim of the project ProFor is to identify management options for such heavily impacted, low order streams which have the potential to influence the self-purification of these streams positively and to reach the good water quality according to the EU Water Framework Directive. The project focuses on in-stream biogeochemical processes which are linked to stream bed morphology and riparian structures and can, thus, be influenced by restoration measures. In addition, investigations comprise land use analyses and the modelling of emission and immission patterns.For the study of the self-purification capacity, stream reaches of different hydro-morphological features and degrees of modification, from semi-natural over restored to heavily modified reaches, have been selected. Investigations include the modelling of nutrient retention on the reach scale via short term nutrient addition experiments (NH4, PO4, 15N-NO3, 15N-NH4), whole stream metabolism (primary production and ecosystem respiration) as well as laboratory experiments about nitrogen and phosphorous uptake and release on the choriotope scale. Results will be linked to hydro-morphological parameters within functional models. Based on these results, a “Catalogue of restoration measures for small water bodies in agricultural landscapes” will be developed. The project is funded by the European Union within the “European Regional Development Fund” (European Territorial Co-operation Programme), the Government of Lower Austria and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management of Austria. Partners: Výzkumný ústav vodohospodářský T.G.Masaryka, v.v.i. (Water Research Institute Brno), University of Technologies Vienna and University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna.
Links:
http://www.at-cz.eu/
http://www.lebensministerium.at/
http://www.noe.gv.at/
http://www.vuv.cz/
http://www.tuwien.ac.at/
http://www.boku.ac.at/
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Wasser Cluster Lunz