Project Overview
Guadiana River Basin is the 4th largest basin in the Iberian Peninsula: 83% in Spain and 17% in Portugal. | There exists 1824 dams in the basin. The Guadiana estuary and the coastal areas are affected by the biggest one called the Alqueva dam. It modified the hydrological regime of the estuary and also its ecological functions reducing the ecosystem service of water regulation. | There are three main protected areas in Guadiana estuary and its floodplains: RAMSAR site, National Reserve, Special Protection Zone (ZPE), Important Bird Area.
Ecosystem Services
Provisioning
- Provisioning Services are ecosystem services that describe the material or energy outputs from ecosystems. They include food, water and other resources.
- Food: Ecosystems provide the conditions for growing food. Food comes principally from managed agro-ecosystems but marine and freshwater systems or forests also provide food for human consumption. Wild foods from forests are often underestimated.
Regulating
- Regulating Services are the services that ecosystems provide by acting as regulators eg. regulating the quality of air and soil or by providing flood and disease control.
- Moderation of extreme events: Extreme weather events or natural hazards include floods, storms, tsunamis, avalanches and landslides. Ecosystems and living organisms create buffers against natural disasters, thereby preventing possible damage. For example, wetlands can soak up flood water whilst trees can stabilize slopes. Coral reefs and mangroves help protect coastlines from storm damage.
Habitat / Supporting
- Ecosystem services "that are necessary for the production of all other ecosystem services". These include services such as nutrient recycling, primary production and soil formation.
- Habitats for species: Habitats provide everything that an individual plant or animal needs to survive: food; water; and shelter. Each ecosystem provides different habitats that can be essential for a species’ lifecycle. Migratory species including birds, fish, mammals and insects all depend upon different ecosystems during their movements.
- Maintenance of genetic diversity: Genetic diversity is the variety of genes between and within species populations. Genetic diversity distinguishes different breeds or races from each other thus providing the basis for locally well-adapted cultivars and a gene pool for further developing commercial crops and livestock. Some habitats have an exceptionally high number of species which makes them more genetically diverse than others and are known as ‘biodiversity hotspots’.
Cultural
- Cultural Services corresponds nonmaterial benefits people obtain from ecosystems through spiritual enrichment, cognitive development, reflection, recreation, and aesthetic experiences.
Major Issues
Risk of eutrophication and harmful algal blooms
Risk of eutrophication and harmful algal blooms
The Alqueva dam
The Alqueva dam
Loss of saltmarsh (loss of nursery functions)
Loss of saltmarsh (loss of nursery functions)
Coastal erosion
Coastal erosion
Loss of biodiversity due to changes in
Loss of biodiversity due to changes in salinity spatial distribution and colonization of alien species
EH Engineering Solutions
Use of two species of bivalves and
Use of two species of bivalves and saltmarsh plants as indication of water quality (fig. 1).
Release of freshwater pulses from the reservoir
Release of freshwater pulses from the reservoir to control the risks of harmful algal blooms.
Project Activities
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Monitoring biota and water quality in estuarine areas.
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Analysis of the role of salt marsh plants as buffer vegetation.
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Control of the risks of eutrophication.
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Academic research (ICCE) and academic training course (Erasmus Mundus Master of Science in Ecohydrology).
Expected Outcomes
Adapt and restore the ecological functions of estuaries and coastal areas impacted by dams and climatic changes.