An operational method for the ecohydrological classification of temporary rivers and streams

Water courses that recurrently cease to flow represent a large part of drainage networks, and are expected to expand with global warming and increased exploitation of water resources. Common classifications of the regime of these temporary streams are based on the statistics of zero flow events. This is partly practical because these statistics can be obtained from flow records or model simulations and the results can be used for some environmental regulations or management purposes.

Nevertheless, it is well known that the main hydrological control on riverine aquatic life is the presence-absence of water rather than its flow regime. Disconnected pools that frequently remain in temporary streams after flow cessation provide valuable refuges for aquatic life, which can last up to all year round. An operational characterisation of the hydrological regime of temporary streams useful for ecological purposes must therefore take into account at least the three main aquatic phases that they undergo: flow, disconnected pools and dry stream bed. However, gauging stations and the derived hydrological models may only marginally inform about the possible occurrence of disconnected pools after the cessation of flow.

In order to facilitate the implementation of the European Water Framework Directive to the temporary streams, an operational approach has been developed to describe and classify the regime of temporary streams and to assess their degree of hydrologic alteration, relevant to aquatic life. This approach is encapsulated in the freely available TREHS software. The first step of this approach is the gathering of information on the frequency of the three aquatic phases using diverse sources of information, such as flow records and simulations, in situ observations, interpretation of aerial or terrestrial series of photographs, and interviews with local inhabitants or technicians familiar with the riverine systems. Up to six metrics describing these frequencies and their temporal patterns of occurrence are used to determine the natural and observed stream regime, and to assess the degree of hydrological alteration.

The combination of the complementary frequencies of the three main aquatic phases allows the description of the regime of every stream as a point in a ternary plot, where the three vertices of the triangle represent the perennial streams, the perennial pools and the terrestrial systems, respectively. This ternary plot assists the classification of the regime of any stream that takes into account the statistics of the main proxies of the occurrence of aquatic habitats. The TREHS software also provides a classification of the regimes in the ternary plot that groups the regimes of assumed ecological significance and uses terms that are conflict-free from the current classifications. Furthermore, TREHS users can easily define new regime classes in this plot according to the ecohydrological characteristics of their streams.