Towards a comprehensive river barrier mapping solution to support environmental management

Sun, Jingrui, Lucas, Martyn C., Olden, Julian D., Couto, Thiago B. A., Ning, Nathan, Duffy, Deanna and Baumgartner, Lee J. (2025) Towards a comprehensive river barrier mapping solution to support environmental management. Nature Water, 3 (1). pp. 38-48. ISSN 2731-6084

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Abstract

The environmental effects of large dams on river connectivity are well recognized and mapped globally. However, datasets describing the distribution and attributes of smaller barriers (such as weirs and culverts) are lacking or incomplete for many regions. This has hindered accurate impact assessments for water resource planning, biased understanding of restoration potential and limited research aiming to understand and mitigate river fragmentation effects. Developing an efficient method to accurately record river barriers, including small ones, has become a priority. We critically examine barrier mapping approaches, from field survey to automated detection, showcasing recent approaches to recording, counting and classifying river barriers. We demonstrate how incomplete barrier databases, particularly those lacking many small barriers, provide a flawed basis for water management and ecological restoration planning. We discuss the efficiency and accuracy of alternative barrier mapping approaches, highlight future priorities and emphasize harmonizing barrier assessment methods to generate reliable, freely available information for effective basin-level management.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Funding Information: J.S. was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 42301064). J.D.O. was supported by the Richard C. and Lois M. Worthington Endowed Professor in Fisheries Management from the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington. T.B.A.C. is funded by the United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) Future Leaders Fellowship (grant no. MR/W011085/1).
Uncontrolled Keywords:	environmental engineering,environmental science (miscellaneous),water science and technology,sdg 6 - clean water and sanitation ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300/2305
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
Related URLs:	http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?... https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/22...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	30 Sep 2025 11:30
Last Modified:	18 Oct 2025 16:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/100565
DOI:	10.1038/s44221-024-00364-w

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