Supplementary information files for "Going to the archives: Combining palaeoecological and contemporary data to support river restoration appraisals"

Supplementary files for article "Going to the archives: Combining palaeoecological and contemporary data to support river restoration appraisals"River restoration practices are being increasingly implemented to help offset the global degradation of freshwater ecosystems. The ecological success of such projects is typically determined via post-project appraisals comparing restored conditions against specified baselines (e.g., pre-project and/or non-restored data), but such approaches can overlook broader ecosystem recovery patterns. Using freshwater macroinvertebrate communities, this study examined ecological responses to river restoration that are seldom assessed: (i) sub-annual temporal trajectories and (ii) palaeoecological versus contemporary community comparisons. Palaeoecological samples contained assemblages that existed prior to major anthropogenic pressures, which were collected from a sinuous palaeochannel that was restored and reconnected during the study; after which contemporary macroinvertebrate samples were collected. The restored channel initially supported an impoverished community, but taxonomic richness and densities were comparable to non-restored conditions after 13-months. The freshwater shrimp (<i>Gammarus pulex</i>) and non-native New Zealand mud snail (<i>Potamopyrgus antipodarum</i>) proliferated 7-months post-restoration, and follow-up biomonitoring highlighted their dominance prevailed 5-years later. Such evidence indicates how ecosystem dynamics in the aftermath of restoration can shape longer-term recovery. Palaeoecological communities exhibited higher biodiversity and conservation values compared with contemporary samples. This highlights that escalating anthropogenic pressures since the mid-20th Century degraded macroinvertebrate communities, notably constraining marginal-dwelling and lentic specialists. With palaeochannel reconnections being widely applied worldwide, this study demonstrates the value in collecting palaeoecological data before restoration works to provide valuable baseline information. As the global anthropogenic footprint increasingly degrades suitable “reference” river environments, palaeoecological data can better characterize biodiversity losses and potentially provide target conditions informing effective restoration activities.<br><br>© The Author(s), CC BY 4.0

论文《走向档案：结合古生态学与当代数据支撑河流修复评估》补充材料
河流修复实践正日益得到推广应用，以缓解全球淡水生态系统的退化态势。此类项目的生态成效通常通过项目后评估判定，即对比修复后的生态状况与预设基线（如项目实施前或未修复区域的监测数据），但这类方法往往会忽视更广泛的生态系统恢复规律。本研究以淡水大型无脊椎动物群落（freshwater macroinvertebrate communities）为研究对象，考察了两类此前鲜有评估的河流修复生态响应：(i) 亚年度时间动态轨迹，以及(ii) 古生态学与当代群落的对比分析。

古生态学样本采集自在本研究期间完成修复并重新连通的蜿蜒古河道，其涵盖了重大人为干扰出现前的群落组合；后续研究人员采集了该区域的当代大型无脊椎动物样本。修复后的河道初期仅能支撑物种组成贫乏的群落，但在13个月后，其分类群丰富度与种群密度已与未修复区域的生态条件相当。淡水钩虾（Gammarus pulex）与外来物种新西兰泥蜗牛（Potamopyrgus antipodarum）在修复完成7个月后大量繁殖，后续的生物监测结果显示，5年后这两类物种仍占据群落的主导地位。此类研究结果表明，修复后的生态系统动态如何塑造长期恢复进程。

古生态学群落相比当代样本展现出更高的生物多样性与保护价值，这凸显出自20世纪中期以来不断加剧的人为压力已对大型无脊椎动物群落造成严重退化，尤其制约了栖息于边缘生境与静水环境的特化物种。鉴于古河道重新连通技术在全球范围内得到广泛应用，本研究证实了在修复工程启动前采集古生态学数据以提供宝贵基线信息的重要价值。随着全球人为活动足迹不断扩张，适宜的“参照”河流环境日益稀缺，古生态学数据能够更精准地刻画生物多样性损失，并可能提供可指导有效修复活动的目标生态条件。

© 作者本人，CC BY 4.0