Assessing impacts of high flow events on fish population: Evaluation of risk-based performance measures
Authored by Ali Naghibi, Barbara Lence
Date Published: 2012
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2012.04.024
Sponsors:
National Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
Collaborative Research Center (CRC)
Platforms:
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Model Documentation:
Other Narrative
Flow charts
Mathematical description
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Abstract
Water management decisions in regulated rivers are associated with
uncertainty and complexity. For example, quantitative approaches for
estimating immediate and long-term impacts of high flow events on fish
populations have not sufficiently been addressed in the literature
despite the institutional motivation for doing so. In this paper, a
probabilistic model for estimating the long-term fish population
recovery, given flood induced fish and egg losses, is developed. A
framework that incorporates this model for estimating flood impacts in
the form of risk-based performance measures of fish population is also
presented. The performance measures are operational indicators that
account for uncertainty in fish population response to high flow events.
They include vulnerability, engineering resilience, and ecological
resilience, as well as a modification of these measures introduced
herein, which is equivalent to vulnerability multiplied by expected
recovery time. Such measures characterize both short- and long-term
fisheries impacts of water management decisions, and may be useful in
planning, design, and real-time operation of reservoirs, and in
participatory water use planning projects, along with other risk
measures (e.g., life safety and economical risks). Applicability of the
fish population recovery model and the estimated risk-based performance
measures is explored for the case study of the Lower Campbell River in
British Columbia, Canada. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Tags
vulnerability
Ecological resilience
Linking science