Health & Environmental Research Online (HERO)


Print Feedback Export to File
3378663 
Journal Article 
Riparian Quality Index (RQI): A methodology for characterising and assessing the environmental conditions of riparian zones 
Gonzalez del Tanago, M; Garcia de Jalon, D 
2011 
Limnetica
ISSN: 0213-8409 
30 
235-253 
Riparian Quality Index (RQI): A methodology for characterising and assessing the environmental conditions of riparian zones



This paper presents a new version of the Riparian Quality Index (RQI). This index serves to assess the ecological status of riparian systems. The paper provides recommended field forms for the collection of the data used to characterise riparian systems prior to their assessment. The RQI considers the main sources of riparian ecological functions and environmental services. It represents a useful tool for monitoring and evaluating the structure of riparian zones, an element of the river morphological conditions considered by the Water Framework Directive. The Index was applied to the Guadiana Basin and other Spanish rivers providing helpful criteria for not only evaluating the present status of riparian systems but also formulating diagnosis and rehabilitation options. It represents a checklist of riparian natural characteristics and possible human-impacted riparian features, and it has valuable potential applications for post-project appraisals. 
Riparian systems; environmental assessment; RQI; physical habitat evaluation; Water Framework Directive; river restoration