Riparian wetland rehabilitation and beaver re-colonization impacts on hydrological processes and water quality in a lowland agricultural catchment.

Quantifying the catchment water balance and the characterization of its water quality changes are effective tools for establishing the response of catchments to shifting land management practices. Here we assess long-term hydrological partitioning and stream water chemistry over a 30-year period in a rural mixed land use catchment in northern Germany undergoing riparian wetlands and widespread re-colonization by beavers (Castor fiber) along the river network. We used long-term spatially distributed stream discharge, groundwater levels and surface water quality data with a simple monthly water balance model, changes in the variability in discharge measurements, and statistical analysis of spatio-temporal changes in stream water quality to assess long-term changes.