Ecohydrology

The first river flow management for ecosystems focused on the concept of a minimum flow for diluting polluted discharges, based on the notion that as long as the flow is maintained at or above a critical minimum, the river ecosystem will be conserved. CEH have made major contributions to this research in ecohydrology particularly in river, wetland and lake ecosystems. This chapter demonstrates that there is a strong need for biologists and ecologists to work more closely with hydrologists to address the challenges of combining flow effects with internal ecosystem dynamics that underpins ecohydrology. This work developed new scientific thinking, for example, on hydrologically defined niches for plant communities and on hydrological functions of wetlands, supported major wetland restoration projects, such as the Great Fenand Baston and Thurlby Fens and input to the Ramsar, International Convention on Wetlands including provision of guidance on groundwater-fed wetlands.