The urban river syndrome: Achieving sustainability against a backdrop of accelerating change Martin Richardson, Mikhail Soloviev International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021 Human activities have been affecting rivers and other natural systems for millennia. Anthropogenic changes to rivers over the last few centuries led to the accelerating state of decline of coastal and estuarine regions globally. Urban rivers are parts of larger catchment ecosystems, which in turn form parts of wider nested, interconnected systems. Accurate modelling of urban rivers may not be possible because of the complex multisystem interactions operating concurrently and over different spatial and temporal scales. This paper overviews urban river syndrome, the accelerating deterioration of urban river ecology, and outlines growing conservation challenges of river restoration projects. This paper also reviews the river Thames, which is a typical urban river that suffers from growing anthropogenic effects and thus represents all urban rivers of similar type. A particular emphasis is made on ecosystem adaptation, widespread extinctions and the proliferation of non-native species in the urban Thames. This research emphasizes the need for a holistic systems approach to urban river restoration.
The thames: Arresting ecosystem decline and building back better Martin Richardson, Mikhail Soloviev Sustainability Switzerland, 2021 The Thames is an iconic river of cultural and historical importance. A cyclical process of deterioration during the last two centuries, followed by technology-driven restorations, including two major sanitation projects with a third currently underway, has produced detrimental effects on the Thames ecosystem. This paper overviews the river ecology, pollution and other anthropogenic pressures, which lead to biodiversity loss and the proliferation of non-native, pollution-tolerant species. This article further reviews past and current management, sampling and assessments trends and provides an objective overview of remediation, restoration and monitoring needs, practices and research gaps. Here, we argue that restoration work, if maladapted, can be ineffective in improving resilience or have unexpected side effects that make matters worse rather than better. We explain the need for a broader view of river restoration and management including consideration of species transplants in achieving overall sustainability against a backdrop of accelerating change in the Anthropocene.
