CROSSLINK is a European research project focused on the efficacy of woody riparian buffers for protecting and enhancing stream and riparian habitats

Project Background

  • Stream-riparian networks are key components of the green and blue infrastructure of landscapes that supply fresh water, support unique biodiversity, and are central to the cultural life of human societies.
  • However, these habitat networks are subject to multiple human pressures, from land clearance, water extraction, agriculture and urbanization. 
  • Woody riparian buffers are one management tool for mitigating many of these impacts, but their efficacy for improving biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in different types of catchment remains little quantified

Our Goal

  • To evaluate how the characteristics of woody riparian buffers affect biodiversity, ecosystem functioning, ecosystem services, and the ecological connectivity of stream-riparian networks in urban, agricultural and mixed land-use landscapes
  • To turn this knowledge into practical policy- and management relevant guidelines, including on how buffer size and catchment position affect the efficacy of woody riparian buffers, relative to the level of human disturbance in the catchment

Our Approach

  • Compilation of a "blue-green infrastructure (GBI) ecological values portfolio", comprising biodiversity, ecosystem function and ecosystem service indicators.
  • Quantification of GBI values indicators from stream and terrestrial habitats at >130 sampling sites across four European case studies
  • Analyses and models of how buffer characteristics (size, spatial location) affect key GBI portfolio indicators, and how the efficacy of riparian buffers varies with the level of human impact

Case studies

Oslo Basin
NORWAY

The Oslo Fjord basin is part of the catchment of the Norwegian capital city Oslo, with a total population of 1.5 million. Due to a mild climate, varied topography and surrounding boreal forests, the city of Oslo is rich in biodiversity relative to latitude. Today, Oslo is one of the fastest growing urban areas in Europe, with its green and blue infrastructure increasingly in focus, including actions to develop and provide access to streams and riparian areas, protect biodiversity and develop adaptation to climate change.

Arges Basin, Carpathian Mountains
ROMANIA

The Arges River is a major tributary of the River Danube and part of the drinking water catchment for Bucharest, with a population of c. 2 million. Following the fall of communism, land ownership became highly fragmented, with little coordination of stream and riparian management. Human pressures include agriculture, aquaculture, forestry, hydropower, industry and urban development. Impacts on the integrity of stream-riparian networks have
serious consequences, including biodiversity loss, flooding, water pollution and spread of invasive species.

Zwalm catchment in the Scheldt River Basin
BELGIUM

The Flemish section of the Scheldt river basin is a densely populated (5.5 M) region with very mixed and intensive land use, ranging from pasture to urban, and some heavy chemical industries. Drinking
water is derived 60% from surface runoff, much of it through urban and agricultural catchments, with water quality an ongoing concern. Interest in green-blue infrastructure approaches, including the use of riparian buffers, to water quality and flood mitigation is high
(Photo: Wikimedia commons, user Spotter2, Image URL)

River Fyrisån catchment in the Lake Mälaren basin
SWEDEN

The Lake Mälaren basin provides transport, recreation, and drinking water for c. 2 M people, and plays a key role in regulating nutrient export to the Baltic. Stream and riparian management is contested, including regarding riparian buffer strips in agricultural landscapes. The river Fyrisån is typical for the region, draining a mixed catchment of agriculture and managed forest, before entering Lake Mälaren south of the Uppsala, Sweden's fourth largest city.

Project Partners

1) Coordinating institution, Fyrisån catchment: Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala
2) Oslo Basin: Norwegian Institute of Water Sciences (NIVA)
3) Zwalm catchment: University of Ghent, Belgium
4) Arges Basin: University of Bucharest, Romania
5) Optimization framework: Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research GmbH (UFZ), Leipzig, Germany

Project Funding

CROSSLINK is funded through the 2015–2016 BiodivERsA COFUND call for research proposals. National funders: the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development (FORMAS, project 2016-01945) and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency; The Research Council of Norway (NFR, project 264499); The Research Foundation of Flanders (FWO, project G0H6516N), Belgium; the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research and Innovation (CCCDI–UEFISCDI, project BiodivERsA3-2015-49-CROSSLINK, within PNCDI III); and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, project FKZ: 01LC1621A), Germany.
Information in local languages
CROSSLINK Norska.pdf
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crosslink__på svenska.pdf
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crosslink_In limba romana.pdf
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crosslink_Vlaamse taal.pdf
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crosslink_English.pdf
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