IMIS - Marine Research Groups

For many years, navigable lowland rivers have been embanked arti fi cially or suffered from substantial shipping wave action, leading to habitat degradation. Recently, riparian habitats were restored by creating foreshores and spawning grounds in the river Yser, a lowland river in Flanders, Belgium. The aim of the research was to evaluate the role of these restored habitats for spawning and nursery of juvenile fi sh. To cover a wide range of anthropogenic disruption, four riparian mesohabitat types were selected and compared, ranging from semi ‐ natural over arti fi cial spawning grounds and foreshores to arti fi cial embankments. Juvenile fi sh were subjected to sampling by using electro fi shing between June and September 2009 at different microhabitats located in fi ve sites of each riparian mesohabitat type. Juvenile fi sh strongly preferred natural riparian habitats, whereas arti fi cial embankments showed the lowest species richness, abundance and functional organization of juvenile fi sh species. Restored riparian habitats appeared to be an appropriate alternative for arti fi cial embankments in navigable lowland rivers but still score signi fi cantly less than natural habitats. Juvenile fi sh avoided bare microhabitats but did not prefer any other microhabitat type (reed, woody or grassy vegetation), emphasizing the importance of microhabitat diversity. This paper provides valuable insights into riparian habitat restoration to river managers and stakeholders. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.