Experimental reductions in subdaily flow fluctuations increased gross primary productivity for 425 river kilometers downstream

Macroscale controls determine the recovery of river ecosystem productivity following flood disturbances

River ecosystem function depends on flow regimes that are increasingly modified by changes in climate, land use, water extraction, and flow regulation. Given the wide range of variation in flow regime modifications and autotrophic communities in rivers, it has been challenging to predict which rivers will be more resilient to flow disturbances. To better understand how river productivity is disturbed by and recovers from high-flow disturbance events, we used a continental-scale dataset of daily gross primary production time series from 143 rivers to estimate growth of autotrophic biomass and ecologically relevant flow disturbance thresholds using a modified population model. We compared biomass recovery rates across hydroclimatic gradients and catchment characteristics to evaluate macroscale controls on ecosystem recovery. Estimated biomass accrual (i.e., recovery) was fastest in wider rivers with less regulated flow regimes and more frequent instances of biomass removal during high flows. Although disturbance flow thresholds routinely fell below the estimated bankfull flood (i.e., the 2-y flood), a direct comparison of disturbance flows estimated by our biomass model and a geomorphic model revealed that biomass disturbance thresholds were usually greater than bed disturbance thresholds. We suggest that primary producers in rivers vary widely in their capacity to recover following flow disturbances, and multiple, interacting macroscale factors control productivity recovery rates, although river width had the strongest overall effect. Biomass disturbance flow thresholds varied as a function of geomorphology, highlighting the need for data such as bed slope and grain size to predict how river ecosystems will respond to changing flow regimes.

Models of underlying autotrophic biomass dynamics fit to daily river ecosystem productivity estimates improve understanding of ecosystem disturbance and resilience

Directly observing autotrophic biomass at ecologically relevant frequencies is difficult in many ecosystems, hampering our ability to predict productivity through time. Since disturbances can impart distinct reductions in river productivity through time by modifying underlying standing stocks of biomass, mechanistic models fit to productivity time series can infer underlying biomass dynamics. We incorporated biomass dynamics into a river ecosystem productivity model for six rivers to identify disturbance flow thresholds and understand the resilience of primary producers. The magnitude of flood necessary to disturb biomass and thereby reduce ecosystem productivity was consistently lower than the more commonly used disturbance flow threshold of the flood magnitude necessary to mobilize river bed sediment. The estimated daily maximum percent increase in biomass (a proxy for resilience) ranged from 5% to 42% across rivers. Our latent biomass model improves understanding of disturbance thresholds and recovery patterns of autotrophic biomass within river ecosystems.

Importance of artificial high flows in maintaining the ecological integrity of a regulated river

Artificial high flows attempt to simulate natural flood pulses in flow-regulated rivers with the intent to improve their ecological integrity. The long-term use of such high flow events have shown beneficial ecological effects on various rivers globally. However, such responses are often non-linear and characterized by underlying feedback mechanisms among ecosystem components. The question arises as to what happens when such high flow releases are disrupted or even discontinued. Here, we used the long-term (22 years) monitoring dataset from the river Spöl to examine whether discontinuation (2016-2021) of the flood program (annual artificial high flows from 2000 to 2016) resulted in the ecological degradation of the river. We used monitoring data of physico-chemistry, periphyton, benthic organic matter, macroinvertebrates and fish (brown trout, Salmo trutta fario L.) in the analysis. The flood program had no long-term effect on water physico-chemistry with most parameters showing typical variations associated with season and inter-annual weather patterns. The floods were effective at mobilizing bed sediments that reduced periphyton biomass and benthic organic matter following each flood. Increases in periphyton biomass and benthic organic matter occurred between floods, but both parameters showed no significant increase with discontinuation of the flood program. Floods reduced macroinvertebrate densities, but with density increases occurring between floods. The pulsed disturbances, and the progressive change in the habitat template, resulted in shifts in community assembly by reducing densities of Gammarus fossarum, a dominant crustacean, which allowed other taxa to colonize the system. Macroinvertebrate densities remained low after discontinuation of the floods, although G. fossarum densities have increased substantially while other taxa, especially some stoneflies, remained low in abundance. Notably, community assembly returned to a pre-flood composition with discontinuation of the floods. The abundance of brown trout increased substantially during the flood program but returned to low pre-flood numbers with discontinuation of the floods. We conclude that the flood program was beneficial to the ecology of the river Spöl and discontinuation of the floods resulted in degradation of the system after a relatively short lag period. However, the system showed high resilience to an earlier perturbation, a sediment spill in 2013, suggesting a rapid positive response by biota with resumption of the flood program.