Los hábitat riparios de la península ibéricagestión y conservación

Abstract

Our Ph dissertation has as main objective the study of the conservation and management of riparian habitats. Within this topic, we focuse on two river elements: the river-bed and the river-bank, both interacting and forming important and rich biodiversity corridors. The river appears as the main element in the river-bank areas. The hydrological and geomorphological structure of rivers, depend on the rate regime, that is, of the moments, duration,frequency and magnitude of the surrounding and extraordinary flows. In the river-bank areas biochemical processes are produced and biodiversity patterns are created. In these, infiltration of surface and groundwater, thermal heterogeneity, the production, decomposition and storage of organic matter, transport of sediments, migration of channels and formation of habitats, the regime of disturbances and processes of ecological succession are included. The river-bank areas make grounds of special interest for its biodiversity and scenic singularity, being necessary an adequate management and careful recovery of them. Four riverine scenarios located in Iberian Peninsula, two in Spain (Alberche y Azuer rivers) and two in Portugal (ribeiras de Unhais da Serra y da Caniça) are carefully studied...