ALFFA

River ecosystems are strongly influenced by landform and human activities within the surrounding valley at multiple scales. Most rivers are  contaminated by a combination of different interventions, leading to a dramatic change in the aquatic habitat and the organism community. Fish are an established biological indicator in the European Union. Through information about species assemblage, abundance, dominance and population structure it is possible to make reliable predictions about the whole river ecosystem. The dramatic change within the fish fauna in Tyrol
and South Tyrol become evident through the local decline of populations, the threat of fish stocks and the disappearance of species. An additional threat is the loss of the genetic integrity due to stocking activities with non native species. This, too, can lead to the loss of autochthonous species. In contrast to most of the previous research where only individual originators were examined, in this project we will determine the influence of (as far as possible) all influence factors and make them visible through geostatistic and multiscale models. We plan on incorporating the gained findings into river management plans, which can be used to influence future decisions on environmental protection.