Coarse sediment dynamics and low-head dams: Monitoring instantaneous bedload transport using a stationary RFID antenna.

Coarse sediment transport in fluvial systems serves an important role in determining in-stream physical habitat, spawning potential and benthic community structure. However, despite more than a decade of pressure in Europe to restore stream continuity under the Water Framework Directive (WFD), there have been relatively few empirical studies on how low-head, run-of-river structures (i.e.

Effect of low-head dams on reach-scale suspended sediment dynamics in coarse-bedded streams.

River infrastructure is one of the primary threats to riverine ecosystems globally, altering hydromorphological processes and isolating habitats. Instream barriers and low-head dams can have significant effects on system connectivity, but despite this, very few empirical studies have assessed the impacts of these structures on suspended sediment transport. Through a paired turbidity study over a 20-month monitoring period we investigated the differences in suspended sediment flux above and below two low-head dams in the south-east of Ireland.

An inspection-based assessment of obstacles to salmon, trout, eel and lamprey migration and river channel connectivity in Ireland.

Knowledge of the location, physical attributes and impacts of obstacles on river connectivity is a requirement for any mitigating action aimed at restoring the connectivity of a river system. Here, we present a study that recorded the numbers and physical diversity of obstacles in 10 river catchments in Ireland, together with the impact these structures had on overall river connectivity. A total of 372 obstacles were recorded, 3 of these were dams, and the remainder were low-head weirs/sluices, obstacles associated with road or rail crossings of rivers and natural structures.

Impact of low-head dams on bedload transport rates in coarse-bedded streams.

This paper presents an empirical study that uses the movement of RFID tracers to investigate the impacts of low-head dams on solid transport dynamics in coarse-bedded streams. Here we report on the influence of two structures located in Ireland's South-East, both of which indicate that particles greater than the reach D can be carried through and over low-head dams. This observation suggests that both structures may have reached a state of 'transient storage' as hypothesized by previous research.