Ground beetle habitat templets and riverbank integrity

The habitat templet approach was used in a scale-sensitive bioindicator assessment for the ecological integrity of riverbanks and for specific responses to river management. Ground beetle habitat templets were derived from a catchment scale sampling, integrating the overall variety of bank types. This coarse-filter analysis was integrated in the reach scale fine-filtering approaches of community responses to habitat integrity and river management impacts. Higher species diversity was associated with the higher heterogeneity in bank habitats of the unnavigable river reaches. The abundant presence of habitat specialists in the riverbank zone, allows a habitat integrity assessment based on the habitat templet indicator species. Significant responses were detected for channel morphology in the width/depth ratio and for hydrological regime in peak frequency and peak velocity, enabling the development of evaluation methods for the impact assessment of river management and flood protection strategies.