Characterising and optimising the impact of large wood on fluvial ecosystems in river restoration: a multi-scale approach

This project will re-define river restoration practice by understanding and optimising the effects of large wood on river eco-hydro-morpho-dynamics. We will develop and share pioneering field and computational techniques, standardising methodologies and leveraging the team's world-leading expertise in large wood, environmental monitoring, landscape restoration, and ecosystem conservation science. Finally, we will translate our cutting-edge research into applied knowledge supporting the growing, global community of river restoration practitioners. Extensive damage to river systems across the globe has driven a huge loss of habitat and biodiversity, compelling urgent actions to protect and restore riverine environments. Large wood, a critical component of river restoration, can enhance habitat complexity, promote sediment retention, and improve flow dynamics and aquatic ecology. Yet, Anthropocene river management strategies have all too often focussed upon simply removing wood from rivers. It is critical to determine how large wood systems affect flow and fluvial landforms of restored rivers at multiple scales, to understand its effect on the physical ecosystem properties of restored rivers. It is essential to assess how placement and configuration of large wood affect the dynamic equilibrium of the river channel to optimise upscaled large wood solutions in river restoration systems. It is necessary to develop a framework for the effective integration of large wood into river restoration designs to overcome limitations imposed by current gaps in understanding. This interdisciplinary project will test the performance of a diverse range of large wood solutions from site to catchment scale, through field analysis and numerical simulations. We will carry out a nested multi-scale data collection and monitoring of river restoration to characterise the impact of large wood on the physical ecosystem properties of restored rivers. We will perform numerical simulations integrating models at multiple scales to assess and optimise upscaled large wood solutions in river restoration systems. We will review and update guidance on the use of large wood in river restoration design to develop an evidence-based framework for the effective integration of large wood into practice. The outputs from this research will advance our understanding of how large wood benefits river ecosystems, communities, and the environment (including where impacts may be negative), and will inform practitioners' best-practice by incorporating the findings into river restoration manuals.