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The Natural Capital of Temporary Rivers: Characterising the Value of Dynamic Aquatic–Terrestrial Habitats

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The Natural Capital of Temporary Rivers: Characterising the Value of Dynamic Aquatic–Terrestrial Habitats VNP12 The Natural Capital of Temporary Rivers: Characterising the value of dynamic aquatic–terrestrial habitats. Valuing Nature | Natural Capital Synthesis Report Lead author: Rachel Stubbington Contributing authors: Judy England, Mike Acreman, Paul J. Wood, Chris Westwood, Phil Boon, Chris Mainstone, Craig Macadam, Adam Bates, Andy House, Dídac Jorda-Capdevila http://valuing-nature.net/TemporaryRiverNC Suggested citation: Stubbington, R., England, J., Acreman, M., Wood, P.J., Westwood, C., Boon, P., The Natural Capital of Mainstone, C., Macadam, C., Bates, A., House, A, Didac, J. (2018) The Natural Capital of Temporary Temporary Rivers: Rivers: Characterising the value of dynamic aquatic- terrestrial habitats. Valuing Nature Natural Capital Characterising the value of dynamic Synthesis Report VNP12. The text is available under the Creative Commons aquatic–terrestrial habitats. Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-SA 4.0) Valuing Nature | Natural Capital Synthesis Report Contents Introduction: Services provided by wet and the natural capital of temporary rivers.............. 4 dry-phase assets in temporary rivers................33 What are temporary rivers?...................................... 4 The evidence that temporary rivers deliver … services during dry phases...................34 Temporary rivers in the UK..................................... 4 Provisioning services...................................34 The natural capital approach Regulating services.......................................35 to ecosystem protection............................................. 6 Cultural services............................................36 Using a natural capital approach to explore the value of temporary rivers...............7 The multiple benefits of wet and dry phases in temporary rivers.............................38 The environmental assets Asset attributes influencing flood of temporary rivers........................................................ 8 and drought control during dry phases.............39 Geomorphology and bed sediments..................... 8 Perceptions of temporary rivers..........................40 Water regimes............................................................. 10 Metrics to measure the natural assets Water chemistry and organic matter...................12 of temporary rivers.......................................................41 Key challenges in temporary river The biological assets of temporary rivers........14 characterisation...........................................................41 Aquatic vertebrates: fish communities...............16 What data are available to Terrestrial and semi-aquatic vertebrates............18 characterise assets?...................................................42 Aquatic invertebrate communities..................... 20 What data are needed?.............................................42 Rare specialist species..............................................22 Moving towards metrics..........................................43 Terrestrial invertebrate communities................24 Research priorities...................................................... 44 Aquatic plants.............................................................26 Terrestrial plants........................................................28 Summary: managing risks and opportunities Microorganisms........................................................ 30 in temporary rivers..................................................... 46 Linking assets to ecosystem services................32 Glossary............................................................................. 48 References and other online resources........................................................... 50 Key resources................................................................. 50 Notes....................................................................................51 Front cover image © Tory Milner With thanks & Acknowledgment..........................52 The Natural Capital of 2 Valuing Nature | Natural Capital Synthesis Report Temporary Rivers Summary Temporary.rivers.naturally.transition.between.flowing,.pool. and.dry.states,.creating.aquatic–terrestrial.habitat.mosaics. that.change.in.space.and.time..These.dynamic.habitats.are. common.in.the.UK’s.cool,.wet.climate..Here,.they.take.many. forms,.from.headwater.streams.that.may.dominate.networks. in.remote.uplands,.to.winterbourne.rivers.crossing.the.chalk. of.south.England..We.examine.published.and.unpublished. sources.to.provide.an.evidence-informed.characterisation.. of.the.natural.assets.in.temporary.rivers. Their physical assets include water, and the climate change pressures. In addition, our geodiversity of sediments and landforms. understanding of temporary rivers is limited In combination, these assets allow temporary and biased, and notable knowledge gaps rivers to support dynamic communities in include small headwater streams and the which aquatic and terrestrial species including terrestrial species that inhabit dry channels. rare specialists enhance biodiversity. Natural These knowledge gaps hinder development assets provide ecosystem services, and we of metrics to track progress towards identify services that may be enhanced ecosystem service goals, and we call for during or unique to both wet and dry phases. research to comprehensively explore these However, natural assets are at risk from important but undervalued ecosystems. interacting water resource, land use and Key Messages • Drying is a natural part of • A focus on chalk streams many river flow regimes but in southern England can also reflect human impacts. obscures the diversity of UK temporary rivers. • Aquatic and terrestrial species enhance the total biodiversity • We need to better characterise of temporary rivers. the full range of temporary river types found in the • Physical and biological UK, with research priorities assets deliver different including small headwater ecosystem services during streams and dry-phase wet and dry phases. communities. The Natural Capital of Temporary Rivers Valuing Nature | Natural Capital Synthesis Report 3 Introduction: the natural capital of temporary rivers What are Temporary rivers temporary rivers? in the UK Perennial rivers flow all the time, whereas Temporary rivers are common in places with temporary rivers are defined as those in which cool, wet climates, including the UK (Fig. 1) [3]. surface water sometimes stops flowing [ı]. Here, as in many regions, flow intermittence is Many temporary rivers also lose water, becoming increasing in space and time, as demands for water a series of isolated pools or drying completely at resources increase in our changing climate [6,7]. the surface, after which sediments remain moist or saturated, and water may still flow within the Many UK temporary rivers are small headwaters bed sediments [2,3]. Temporary reaches account or larger groundwater-dominated systems, but for a substantial proportion of the global river these dynamic ecosystems take many forms: length, and can dominate arid, semi-arid and • Any UK river reach can have temporary flow mediterranean-climate river networks [4]. during extreme droughts – even the Thames Here, they are particularly well-studied and ceased to flow and experienced partial sediment can be highly valued by people [5]. drying at Teddington in West London in ı976. Some groundwater-dominated rivers are near- perennial, drying naturally during droughts, in particular events in which a dry winter provides Figure 1: The diversity of limited recharge of the aquifer [ı3,ı4]. UK temporary rivers A B C © John Illingworth A B © Peter Gamble © David Pryce C © Tory Milner D D E F E F © Lee Brown © Andy House UK temporary rivers are widespread and diverse, including: A the limestone Allt nan Uamh, Inchnadamph; B Clunie Water, a near-icebound mountain stream, the Cairngorms; C the disappearing River Wharfe, North Yorkshire; D a ponded peatland stream; E the karst River Manifold, Staffordshire; F the winterbourne headwaters of the chalk River Till, Wiltshire The Natural Capital of 4 Valuing Nature | Natural Capital Synthesis Report Temporary Rivers Box 1: Temporary reaches, not temporary rivers, are typical in the UK A B C Whole rivers dry in arid regions, but in the UK, reaches can shift between temporary and perennial flow over short distances. This moorland stream in the north Pennines has temporary upper headwaters A , flow increases downstream B due to surface runoff and groundwater inputs, then decreases downstream of sinkholes in the limestone bedrock C . All images © Chris Mainstone • The winterbourne reaches of chalk rivers Although we refer to ‘temporary rivers’ and in England (Fig. 1F) experience predictable, ‘temporary streams’ throughout this report, in seasonal shifts between flowing and dry states. most UK systems, temporary reaches occur Those in south England are well-known [8-ıı] and within systems that have both perennial and non- their characteristic communities are part of the perennial stretches (Box 1). Flow intermittence reason that some sites are legally protected [ı2]. often increases with progression upstream, but sometimes local variation in the water table results • Like winterbournes, some groundwater-fed in alternating sections with contrasting flow rivers crossing karst limestone, for example in permanence (Box 1). Elsewhere, human activity, the Peak District, have an ‘intermittent’ water and in particular water abstraction, has created regime
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