This paper describes the methodological concept for application of physical
habitat models to restoration planning at a whole river scale. The design
proposed here builds upon the Instream Flow Incremental Methodology but is
focused at the need for man,A aging large-scale habitats and river systems.
it modifies the data acquisition technique and analytical resolution of st
andard approaches, changing the scale of physical parameters and biological
response assessment from micro- to meso-scale. In terms of technological p
rocess, a highly detailed microhabitat survey of a few, short sampling site
s would be replaced by mesohabitat mapping of whole-river sections. As with
more traditional stream habitat models, the variation in the spatial distr
ibution and amount of mesohabitats can provide key information on habitat q
uality changes corresponding to alterations in flow, channel changes, and s
tream improvement measures. However, the scale of simulations more closely
matches restoration and system analyses, because it provides a solid base f
or quantitative assessment and simulation of habitat conditions for the who
le stream.