IMIS

Geographic coverage: Riparian habitats along the river Yser in Flanders, Belgium. The river enters Belgium in the province of West Flanders and drains into the sea near the town of Nieuwpoort.
Taxonomic coverage: All 22 species in this dataset are fishes (Actinopterygii). The top 3 recorded species are Abramis brama (29%), Rutilus rutilus (29%), and Gasterosteus aculeatus (14%).
Sampling methods: The juvenile fish were sampled using electrofishing, between June and September 2009. The number of individuals was recorded, as well as fork length (tip of snout to fork of tail in millimeter).
Study Extent: Five microhabitat sites for each of the four riparian mesohabitat types along the river Yser in Flanders, Belgium.
Quality Control: All records are validated.
Purpose: For many years, navigable lowland rivers have been embanked artificially or suffered from substantial shipping wave action, leading to habitat degradation. Recently, riparian habitats were restored by creating foreshores and spawning grounds in the river Yser, a lowland river in Flanders, Belgium. The aim of the research was to evaluate the role of these restored habitats for spawning and nursery of juvenile fish. To cover a wide range of anthropogenic disruption, four riparian mesohabitat types were selected and compared, ranging from semi‐natural, over artificial spawning grounds and foreshores, to artificial embankments. Juvenile fish were subjected to sampling by using electrofishing between June and September 2009 at different microhabitats located in five sites of each riparian mesohabitat type. The study (Mouton et al. 2011) found that juvenile fish strongly preferred natural riparian habitats, whereas artificial embankments showed the lowest species richness, abundance and functional organization of juvenile fish species. Restored riparian habitats appeared to be an appropriate alternative for artificial embankments in navigable lowland rivers, but still score significantly less than natural habitats. Juvenile fish avoided bare microhabitats, but did not prefer any other microhabitat type (reed, woody or grassy vegetation), emphasizing the importance of microhabitat diversity.
Issues with the dataset can be reported here.
The publication of this dataset was supported by the INBO as part of the Flemish contribution to LifeWatch.