Publications by Walter Gostner

A case-study evaluating river rehabilitation alternatives and habitat heterogeneity using the hydromorphological index of diversity

Concurrent rehabilitation alternatives were evaluated for a 1900 m reach of the River Etsch in northern Italy using a recently developed Hydro Morphological Index of Diversity (HMID) model. HMID is a new tool enabling quantitative assessments of river rest ...

2019

Sampling sufficiency for determining hydraulic habitat diversity

Anton Schleiss, Walter Gostner, Mário Jorge Rodrigues Pereira Da Franca, Christopher Robinson, Severin Stähly

The geometry and hydrodynamics of river reaches are key ecohydraulic descriptors. Statistics of water depth and velocity measurements are usually taken as proxies for habitat suitability in rivers. However, little is known about the sufficiency of data to ...

2018

Analysis of the sensitivity of the hydromorphological index of diversity, HMID

Anton Schleiss, Walter Gostner, Mário Jorge Rodrigues Pereira Da Franca, Christopher Robinson, Severin Stähly

Hydromorphological conditions are a key factor for the habitat diversity in riverine ecosystems. The Hydromorphological Index of Diversity (HMID) is a tool to quantify the habitat diversity in a river reach based on local flow depths and flow velocities. T ...

2018

Gravel bar inundation frequency: an important parameter for understanding riparian corridor dynamics

Anton Schleiss, Walter Gostner

Riparian zones are some of the most valuable and at the same time endangered ecosystems in the world. Their progressive degradation caused by anthropogenic pressure calls for the adoption of effective, resilient restoration strategies. However, a full unde ...

Springer Verlag2017

The hydro-morphological index of diversity: a tool for describing habitat heterogeneity in river engineering projects

Anton Schleiss, Walter Gostner

We present a new hydro-morphological index of diversity (HMID), a tool aimed for use in river engineering projects and firstly developed at gravel-bed streams in Switzerland, but intended for a broader use. We carried out field work with extensive hydrauli ...

Springer2013

A case study on spatial and temporal hydraulic variability in an alpine gravel-bed stream based on the hydromorphological index of diversity

Anton Schleiss, Walter Gostner, Piotr Parasiewicz

Physical heterogeneity is a major topic in river sciences because it is known to be a key factor for ecological integrity. In this paper, we investigated the hydraulic enviroment in an alpine gravel-bed stream with an unaltered hydrological regime. The stu ...

John Wiley and Sons2013

The Hydro-Morphological Index of Diversity : a Planning Tool for River Restoration Projects

Walter Gostner

Contemporary river engineering must guarantee effective long-term flood protection while also improving stream ecology. Nowadays, river engineering projects must aim at optimizing hydromorphological heterogeneity, as this is an acknowledged basic condition ...

EPFL2012

Comparison of measured hydro-morphological parameters with biotic properties at the river Buenz in Switzerland

Anton Schleiss, Walter Gostner, Christopher Robinson

IAHR2009