Assessing Potential Spawning and Nursery Habitat Availability in the River Rhine for the Critically Endangered European Sturgeon.

Information about reproductive habitat and migration pathways is of paramount importance to restore migratory fish species. This study assesses the availability of spawning and nursery habitats for the European sturgeon () in the delta and lower Rhine (covering over 350 river kilometres) as part of a larger feasibility assessment for a future restoration of this critically endangered species. The general approach has three steps: (1) the identification of the species' specific habitat requirements, based on a systematic literature review; (2) the collection and preprocessing of data from two countries, including the 1D and 2D modelling of water depths and flow velocities; and (3) GIS-based mapping of spawning and nursery habitat.