Constructed inshore zones as river corridors through urban areas - The Danube in Vienna: Preliminary results

Citation
A. Chovanec et al., Constructed inshore zones as river corridors through urban areas - The Danube in Vienna: Preliminary results, REGUL RIVER, 16(2), 2000, pp. 175-187
Citations number
58
Categorie Soggetti
Environment/Ecology
Journal title
REGULATED RIVERS-RESEARCH & MANAGEMENT
ISSN journal
08869375 → ACNP
Volume
16
Issue
2
Year of publication
2000
Pages
175 - 187
Database
ISI
SICI code
0886-9375(200003/04)16:2<175:CIZARC>2.0.ZU;2-X
Abstract
Over the last 125 years, river regulation has considerably changed the ecol ogical conditions of the Austrian Danube and its floodplains such that the system is now very fragmented. Within the municipal area of Vienna, these c hanges have been particularly severe: river embankments and a bypass channe l (the 'New Danube'), separated from the main river by an artificial island ('Danube Island'), are the key elements of flood control, and river levels are controlled by the Vienna hydroelectric power plant ('Freudenau'). Duri ng construction of the hydroelectric power plant, the previously straight s horeline of the 21-km long Danube island, with its steep embankments, was r estructured by creating shallow water areas, gravel banks, small permanent backwaters and temporary waters. This paper describes the scheme and the re sults from the first year of a 4-year monitoring programme ('Danube Island Monitoring Programme', DIMP) investigating the colonization and successiona l processes of these areas by monitoring relevant indicator groups (vegetat ion, dragonflies, amphibians, reptiles, waterfowl). Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.