Elsevier

Ecological Indicators

Volume 24, January 2013, Pages 211-223
Ecological Indicators

Pan-European distribution modelling of stream riparian zones based on multi-source Earth Observation data

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2012.06.002Get rights and content

Abstract

Freshwater ecosystems are among the most degraded and threatened globally. A need for systematic assessment of riverine habitats is thus well-documented. Riparian zones are especially important due to the large array of ecosystem and social services they can provide, while also recently gaining a major role in the new European biodiversity policy. In this context, the necessity to gather spatial information on extent, distribution and characteristics of the riparian zones is clear. This paper presents the development of a novel model to derive geographical distribution and basic characteristics of stream riparian zones in Europe, including both river-floodplain systems and the riparian networks of minor and ephemeral streams. A series of relevant descriptive attributes (water boundary, vegetation presence, land-cover, upland boundary and local geomorphology) is initially selected from the existing literature to describe the presence of riparian zones. Spatially explicit estimates of these attributes are obtained using available Earth Observation data and pan-European thematic datasets. Finally, the information layers are combined through an aggregation system that assigns a degree of belonging to the riparian zone class using two fuzzy membership functions to evaluate water influence and presence of natural vegetation, respectively. Riparian zones with no hydrological connection are also incorporated in by the model based on functional considerations. The distribution of stream riparian zones was derived and mapped for the whole of Europe at fine resolution. Modelled riparian zones extend for approximately 91,000 km2, considering the entire range of low to high membership to the riparian class. A characterization of land-cover types was derived based on Corine Land Cover 2000 data, showing that European riparian zones are strongly dominated by forest habitats. Accuracy assessment was performed using independent ecological datasets and visual validation, indicating that producer accuracy is equal to 84.5 ± 1.3% and user accuracy to 72.6 ± 5.8% at 95% confidence level. The proposed model and output can represent valuable information for large-scale research activities of riparian environments and to support national and supra-national conservation programmes.

Introduction

In light of current widespread degradation and threats to freshwater ecosystems, the need for systematic assessment of riverine habitats is well-documented (MEA, 2005, Dudgeon et al., 2006, Malmqvist and Rundle, 2002). At European level this is endorsed by a series of key legislative acts; most importantly the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC), which introduced the legal obligation for Member States to assess the ecological conditions of river and adjacent land habitats as a basis for effective management policies. Riverine habitats are gaining an increasingly significant role within the new European biodiversity policy and conservation targets for 2020, which are largely based on the implementation of the new European Green Infrastructure (Sundseth and Silwester, 2009). This multi-faceted concept, developed in the mid 1990s in the US, can be defined as a strategically planned and managed network of natural lands, working landscapes and other open spaces that conserve biodiversity, ecosystem values and functions and provide associated benefits to human population (Benedict and McMahon, 2006).

To support research and monitoring activities related to the abovementioned policy framework, the need for information on extent, distribution and characteristics of the riparian zones (from the Latin ripa, bank) is clear. ‘Riparian zones’ refer to transitional areas occurring between land and freshwater ecosystems, characterized by distinctive hydrology, soil and biotic conditions strongly influenced by the stream water (Naiman et al., 2005, Verry et al., 2004). These are not limited to areas associated with floodplain indicators, but they also include portions of upland away from the bank that have some water-land interaction (Gregory et al., 1991); typically, near-slope zones ecologically connected to the watercourse by surface and subsurface hydrology (NRC, 2002). Fig. 1 provides a schematic representation of a riparian zone and main characteristic functions.

Despite the variety of concepts and definitions present in the literature, there is strong agreement with regard to the importance of the riparian systems due to the natural and social services they provide. Riparian zones can encompass valuable natural habitats and are often characterized by high productivity and biodiversity (Whitaker et al., 2000, Knopf and Samson, 1994). They provide reduction of non-point-nutrient and pollution sources via plant uptake, physical filtering and chemical transformation (e.g. denitrification), together with trapping sediment-bound pollutants and waters coming from upstream (Daniels and Gilliam, 1996, Peterjohn and Correll, 1984). Riparian corridors play a major role in maintaining landscape connectivity, functioning as ‘dispersal corridors’ within fragmented landscapes (Gillies and Cassidy Saint Clair, 2008, Machtans et al., 1996). From a hydrological risk perspective, riparian environments supply river bank stabilization and provide resistance to runoff during flood events (Bennett and Simon, 2004).

The majority of research related to riparian zones has focused on permanent and seasonal watercourses, while few studies have focused on small headwaters and ephemeral tributaries (Goebel et al., 2003). Nevertheless, recent research based on surveys of amphibians and plant communities has claimed that these latter watercourse types can also have discernible riparian zones (Hagan et al., 2006, Perkins and Hunter, 2006). We therefore considered relevant to include in this study not only ‘river-floodplain’ systems (Bayley, 1995), but also the riparian networks of minor and ephemeral watercourses.

To the authors’ knowledge, no continental-scale modelling and mapping of riparian zones has previously been performed; most literature describes local-scale analyses, with a few studies extending to a regional or watershed scale. Sutula et al. (2006) developed a method based on remote-sensing data to map potential riparian zones in Southern California watersheds. Their approach was based on purely geomorphological criteria applied to 10 m and 30 m DEMs, together with superimposed NDVI satellite data to report vegetation distribution. Ivits et al. (2009) considered as riparian zones the regions within a 1 km buffer zone from the river network of Andalusia (Spain), and analysed the permanent vegetation present in relation to EU agri-environmental measures. Much literature focuses on smaller scales (e.g. river basins) and on recent techniques, such as LiDAR, to acquire characteristics of riparian vegetation and topography (Johansen et al., 2010, Goetz, 2006).

The generation of a model to derive riparian zones distribution for the whole of Europe being a primary target of the present work, the proposed approach relies mostly on satellite imagery and continental GIS datasets. A large-scale assessment of this kind faces a series of challenges: (i) establishing a trade-off between processing effort/data availability and spatial resolution due to the vast study area and the generally small size of riparian zones, (ii) the high heterogeneity of these environments (e.g. spectral variance, biota, geomorphological setup), (iii) the need to introduce theoretical criteria in order to include functional considerations (NRC, 2002).

Specific objectives of this research are the development of a model to derive the continental distribution of European stream riparian zones, to report broad spatial patterns, and discuss their basic characteristics.

Section snippets

Materials and methods

The methodology followed is structured in three major sequential steps: (i) the selection in the literature of relevant common descriptors to characterize stream riparian zones; (ii) the production of thematic geospatial datasets as required information layers to represent the riparian descriptors; (iii) the implementation of a riparian detection model based on a fuzzy membership approach. All the methodological steps are described in detail in the following sections.

Overview of distribution and characteristics

The model output provides a distribution map1 and basic characterization of the entire continental riparian network. A representation of the model output is illustrated in Fig. 4; riparian zone distribution is indicated using 10-km cells to improve visual observation of its continental extension. Riparian zone distribution strongly depends on the river network density. The hydrographic system, based mainly on CCM

Conclusions

Information on the spatial distribution of riparian zones is crucial for the assessment of ecological functions of riverine environments (Ward et al., 2002), especially in the context of biodiversity conservation and the evaluation of ecosystem services. A novel model to derive the distribution of stream riparian zones is proposed, considering both stream-riparian ecosystems, related to small size and ephemeral streams, and river-floodplain ecosystems of large flood-prone systems. We

Acknowledgements

The Authors would like to thank L. Feyen and P. Kempeneers (JRC) for providing LISFLOOD and Forest Map 2006 data, respectively. We also acknowledge A.C. Cardoso and M. Dunbar for carefully reviewing the manuscript. Data for validation were kindly provided by M. Dunbar (UK CEH), Prof. N. Prat (FEMR, University of Barcelona), J. Barquin (Cantabria University, Spain), Prof. T. Ferreira and F. Aguiar (Tech. University Lisboa). We acknowledge the Spanish Minister of Science and Innovation in

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