Reconnecting Europe's Broken Rivers
An international team of researchers, including experts from the ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ, have found that the flow of Europe’s rivers and the movements of animals are impeded by at least 1.2 million instream barriers – with many being obsolete and beyond repair.
The results, published in Nature ( ), show that Europe has probably some of the most fragmented rivers in the world, and that small barriers – weirs, culverts and fords less than 2m high - are the main culprits, affecting fish and other wildlife.
A team of scientists at the International Centre for Ecohydraulics Research (ICER), ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ, built on previous work to develop a rapid barrier assessment tool to map the impact of barriers on river networks throughout Europe.
See the full press release from the ¾ÅÉ«ÊÓƵ here .