| Sede | Verbania |
| Tipologia di contributo | Progetto |
| Tipologia di progetto | Progetti di ricera nazionali |
| Titolo | IntEractions between hydrodyNamics flows and bioTic communities in fluvial Ecosystems: advancement in dischaRge monitoring and understanding of Processes Relevant for ecosystem sustaInability by the development of novel technologieS with fIeld observatioNs and laboratory testing |
| Acronimo | ENTERPRISING |
| Abstract ITA | Noin disponibile |
| Abstract ENG | The overall objective of the project is the development of advanced technologies and innovative methods that, using radar, biological sensors, hydrodynamic models and algorithms, allow, for the first time, to predict the river flows also during high floods as well as the impact of hydrodynamic processes on the river biotic communities. The project aims to face a twofold challenge, the first is that raised by World Meteorological Organization to identify advanced techniques for discharge monitoring at high flow, of interest to control extreme events and the second challenge is that of the European Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 (EU COM 244, 2011) for a better protection of ecosystems along with the contribution to averting global biodiversity loss. The basic idea of the project comes from recent studies conducted by involved Research Units that have highlighted how the integrated use of advanced technology and a refined eco-hydraulic modeling can lead to new insights on discharge monitoring and ecosystem-river processes. To achieve the target, ENTERPRISING is articulated in different levels of activity synergistically connected and concern: 1)the monitoring of river flow by developing innovative no-contact technology; 2) the identification and modeling of interaction mechanisms between hydrodynamics processes and biotic communities; 3) the development of advanced technologies for monitoring the response of biotic communities to hydro-morphological changes with the testing in laboratory and field; and 4) the evaluation of the effects of hydrodynamic processes on river ecosystem communities in different environments as a base for the development of an effective Biological Early Warning System (BEWS). ENTERPRISING finds its roots in the awareness that, in watercourse ecosystems is fundamental, on one hand, to have accurate discharge assessments for any flow condition also for inaccessible sites and, on the other hand, to understand modifications of the biotic environment in correlation with hydrodynamics, and geomorphological complexity, through a synergistic approach by blending expertise that spans fluvial processes and ecosystems sustainability. This is the core of the project, which is motivated by the idea that different environmental phenomena have to be jointly investigated by leveraging a wealth of multidisciplinary expertise in order to relate biotic indicators directly to flow characteristics measured with no-contact technologies. This needs i) a proper monitoring of key variables (water level and surface flow velocity) also during high flow conditions and when sediment transport is significant; ii) a physically based description of the main hydro-morphological processes, such as turbulence and sediment transport, generated within the channel and in perifluvial areas in different conditions of roughness, morphology, vegetation, and iii) a deep understanding of disturbance and impact on target biotic components to be used as indicators of fluvial ecosystem health.
ENTERPRISING will contribute in improving the scientific and non-contact technological capabilities for a continuous, effective and accurate monitoring of surface velocity and water level by developing and testing an innovative multi-function lightweight radar sensor, able to operate in a wide variety of conditions such as during extreme events, at night, or on-board of drones so as to allow monitoring inaccessible sites too. A prototype of radar-drone system will be also tested in different river contexts. The surface velocity and water level measurements provided by the developed radar will feed a hydrodynamic, entropy-based model able to characterize the main turbulence structures of flow along with the intensity of associated sediment transport, also in presence of secondary currents and vegetation. Considering that the entropy-based model is a 2D site-based approach, a high resolution 3D numerical modelling will be also developed to refine the entropy-based velocity distribution mainly in the representation of turbulence structures close to the side-walls, where high-frequency fluctuations of velocity occur. The relevant hydrodynamic processes will be identified in flow domains also affected by bed-forms and grain textures, such as step and pools, riffle or dunes. A detailed determination of zones of high or small entraining stresses around the grains of the bed, will help to understand the dynamic of sediment transport. This analysis is meant to identify the hydraulic stressors for biotic ecosystems. To this end, the advanced on-line Biomonitoring Early Warning System that uses behavioral and/or physiological stress responses of caged test organisms (mussels), exposed in situ to hydro-morphological changes, will be tested through Case Studies in field and laboratory. ENTERPRISING’s outcomes will be disseminated in a wide range of stakeholders and a strong knowledge network will be built also through a website platform design. |
| Descrizione estesa ITA | Non disponibile |
| Descrizione estesa ENG | The overall objective of the project is the development of advanced technologies and innovative methods that, using radar, biological sensors, hydrodynamic models and algorithms, allow, for the first time, to predict the river flows also during high floods as well as the impact of hydrodynamic processes on the river biotic communities. The project attempts to respond to a twofold challenge, the first is that raised by World Meteorological Organization to identify advanced techniques for discharge monitoring at high flow of interest to control extreme events and the second is that of the European Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 (EU COM,0244 Final;2011) for a better protection of ecosystems and services they provide along with contribution to averting global biodiversity loss. To this end, ENTERPRISING will bring together scientists with different expertise to develop state-of-the-art operational tools for an innovative monitoring technology of key hydraulic variables that will be tested on field and by laboratory experiments, and whose measurements will initialize an enhanced modeling of hydrodynamic processes and hydraulic stressors for biotic ecosystems. Multiple innovative elements are included, as the project tackles interactions between fluvial dynamic and ecosystems in different climate environment and through a comprehensive approach based on innovative and synergistically connected activities able to provide an effective response to the minimum hydrodynamic conditions so that ecosystem quality holds.
TARGETS
1) To develop an innovative technology for monitoring river hydraulic key variables also during high floods and ecosystems sustainability, to be tested in field and laboratory.
For river flow monitoring ENTERPRISING intends to develop low-cost, miniaturized radar sensors which may be onboard drones, for the no-contact monitoring of river hydrodynamic parameters like surface velocity and water level, which initialize a hydrodynamic modeling. The sensor will be operational at a fixed station and onboard of a drone prototype, so that the monitoring can be also addressed for inaccessible river sites and for any flow condition. The merging of radar measurements with those by conventional techniques will allow, on one hand, to test the equipment in different river context and flow conditions and, on the other hand, to improve the data robustness.
For the monitoring of biotic community, the project will explore the suitability of mussel behavior responses as a biomarker for the detection of hydro-morphological impacts on riverine communities. For that, it will be used a high-frequency non-invasive valvometry, an innovative online biomonitoring technique consisting in continuously monitoring the bivalves’opening and closing cycles to detect behavioral disturbances associated with the environment. In these invertebrates, any stress or stimulation leads to a significant increase in valve activity. Halls sensor technology and software [1,2] able to collect valvometric measurements with very high resolution in real-time can be adopted. The recording of gap changes provides evidence of a mussel’s response to disturbances as the closing of a mussel’s shells is an indicative evasion behavior. Experiments in laboratory will be performed by varying the hydraulic stressor and in field at gauged river sites where discharge is continuously monitored also with radar sensors
2) To identify and model the interaction mechanism between hydrodynamic processes and biotic communities;
The target consists in identifying how river hydro-morphological changes may have impact on biotic communities. This will be addressed by analyzing the hydraulic stressors for biotic ecosystems to find significant correlations between biotic [and specifically mussels] behavioral response and hydrodynamic parameters such as discharge and velocity data. For that, it will be investigated the existence of an entropy constraint that links global flow parameters, in particular liquid and solid discharges, and flow section shape and area, to local quantities, easy to be measured in any natural streams, as the surface velocity and the water level, both provided by the developed no-contact radar sensor. The analysis will refine the entropy model by a high resolution three-dimensional (3D) numerical modelling able to provide a more accurate spatial distribution of velocity field also close the sidewalls and channel bottom, where the impact on ecosystems may be significant. In this way, the detection limits for hydraulic stressors and the exposure time needed to elicit an alarm response will be assessed, opening the way to understand the sensitivity of a sentinel-based behavioral system and its applicability to water monitoring
3) To develop a biological early warning system (BEWS) which is based on the different responses of organisms to hydraulic stressors.
The last target concerns the analysis of effects of hydrodynamic processes on river ecosystem communities such as also fostered by the EU Directive Habitat (92/43/CEE) in different environments. For that, based on surface velocity and water levels measured by the developed radar technology, the main hydrodynamic stressors will be identified and the valvometric responses will be tested as a function of changes in flow velocity, water level, sediment transport and particulate suspended solids. To select the most suitable indicator for a wide range of hydraulic regimes, the sensitivity of three native Italian species with different habitat requirements will be compared. |
| Rilevanza scientifica e risultati ITA | Non disponibile |
| Rilevanza scientifica e risultati ENG | In terms of flow monitoring, despite the technology has made progress, lightweights miniaturized radar sensors, are still not available as off-the-shelf products. Their development could have an enormous impact in estimating the hydrodynamic processes by refined hydraulic models initialized from the surface velocity and water level measurements provided by the radar. For that, it will be leveraged the FMCW-Doppler architecture in order to feature a velocity-range separation capability For that, the project will try to answer to several problems still open mainly for the monitoring using drone. The first problem is associated to the significant disturbance coming from the propellers. The enhanced idea is to distinguish between the Doppler effect coming from the nearby objects [propellers] to that due to far objects (river surface) and this can be done by a simultaneous Doppler-range measurements. The second problem is the velocity monitoring across the river that will be solved by developing an electronic scanning antenna for which suitable design approaches will be devised in order to apply them to low-cost miniaturized radar systems. The third open problem is the determination of the absolute water level and considering that a centimeter-level accuracy cannot be achieved due to the limited drone’s GPS accuracy, it will be exploited the electronic scanning antenna to simultaneously measure the height of the drone with respect to both water surface and ground level. All these innovations will lead to a completely original sensor that is neither comparable to the present state-of-the-art, nor to any product available on the market.
As regards the monitoring of impacts of hydro-morphological changes on biotic community, we focus on freshwater mussels monitoring, the most heavily impacted faunal group, which extirpation likely will alter ecosystem functioning. For that, a step forward will be the testing in field at river gage sites and in laboratory of three sub-lethal behavioral endpoints, with the aim of adapting the use of animal-attached remote-sensing technology to assess of hydrological ecosystem impacts and to define the “vital minimum outflow”for safeguarding communities and ecosystem services.
The proposed new way to investigate the hydrodynamic processes by identifying the turbulence structures by an entropy law for whatever flow condition will help to understand the transport mechanism of substances and sediments linked to exchange between the free stream and the near-bed, overcoming the need of detailed measurements in the cross-sectional flow area. Indeed, the novelty of the approach is to allow the estimation of the velocity distribution, the effect of secondary circulation and turbulent intensity distribution, and consequently the processes of transport and dispersion, just starting from the measurement of the surface-velocity and water level only. This is of paramount importance for identifying an entropy constraint linking global flow parameters, in particular the liquid and solid discharges, and flow section shape and area, to local quantities, easy to be measured in any natural streams, e.g. the velocity at the free surface and the flow depth. The goal has an overwhelming and indisputable worth, because the evaluation of sediment-transport discharge is still a challenging, time-consuming and expensive undertaking, still far from being pursued, in small creek, almost impossible in large- drainage and chief regional rivers. Furthermore, 3D mathematical representation of velocity distribution affected by bed-forms and grain textures, will refine the entropy model performance in particular in the zones of high or small entraining stresses around the grain paving the bed and banks.
Another advances in knowledge concerns the assessment of the different responses of organisms to hydraulic stressors basic for the development of a Biological Early Warning System (BEWS). BEWS is already used for the continuous control of water chemical pollution, but for an effective ecosystem monitoring and management also the hydromorphological disturbance must be targeted. To improve our capability to detecting impacts of hydro-morphological changes, we focus on freshwater mussels, the most heavily impacted faunal group, which whose extirpation likely will alter ecosystem functioning. The novelty is also identify possible implications of near-wall flow field characteristics for mussel behavioural responses. |
| Fonte di finanziamento ITA | PRIN 2017, Ministero dell'Istruzione dell'Università e della Ricerca |
| Fonte di finanziamento ENG | PRIN 2017, Ministero dell'Istruzione dell'Università e della Ricerca |
| Altre informazioni ITA | Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche IRPI
Università degli Studi di PADOVA
Università degli Studi di PERUGIA
Università degli Studi di PALERMO
Università degli Studi di TRENTO |
| Altre informazioni ENG | Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche IRPI
Università degli Studi di PADOVA
Università degli Studi di PERUGIA
Università degli Studi di PALERMO
Università degli Studi di TRENTO |
| Coordinatore | Tommaso Moramarco |
| Referente IRSA | Nicoletta Riccardi |
| Periodo di attivita | 2019-2022 |
| Data | 2020-16-12 |
