| Onderzoek naar de haalbaarheid van het herstel van serpelingpopulatie in waterlopen van het Vlaamse Gewest |
Funder identifier: 04/017 (Other contract id)
Period: January 2005 till February 2006
Status: Completed
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| Institute | Top | - Vlaamse overheid; Beleidsdomein Omgeving; Instituut voor Natuur- en Bosonderzoek (INBO), more
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| Abstract | This research is part of a feasibility study for the recovery of the dace in the Flemish Region, and is joined closely to the still ongoing research on artificial breeding of the species under controlled circumstances and to the research on population genetics which recently will be carried out. Besides a thorough literature study an extensive field campaign was conducted to explore the habitat use of the species.
In the literature study the population dynamics, habitat ecology, possible predation and competition, diseases and parasites and the water quality requirements of the dace were studied. Furthermore its actual distribution and its historic distribution in Flanders were investigated. The habitat use of the species was studied for different life stages in two Flemish rivers, ‘Grote
Nete’ and ‘Aabeek’, and their 1st order tributaries. This was done on three different scales of investigation: a regional scale over different river catchments, a macroscale, within one river catchment, and a microscale, within one river. Most important conclusions of this research were that depth, current velocity, presence of riparian and canopy vegetation, and position in
the river channel were of importance to 0+ dace. Furthermore depth and curent velocity were most important variables for 1+ and older dace. The results allowed to develop and test habitat suitability models for 0+ and for 1+ and older dace respectively. Furthermore a description of the spawning habitat and a qualitative assessment were possible based on previous data of the INBO.
Application of these models on Flemish water courses lead to the formulation of measures of management for water- and fish stock managers, and suitable water courses for a pilot reintroduction were pointed out. Finally field protocols were developed to evaluate habitat suitability for 0+, for 1+ and older dace, and for spawning of dace. |
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