Hydromorphological rehabilitation is increasingly being used to reverse degradation of stream and river ecosystems. River rehabilitation projects have nevertheless been criticised for not meeting their goals or for not being monitored sufficiently well to assess whether their goals were met. There is therefore an urgent need to develop robust approaches to assessing treatment efficacy and to thus guide the increasing investment in rehabilitation. A headwater tributary of the River Welland in Leicestershire, UK was rehabilitated in summer 2014. Rehabilitation included removal of weirs and the creation of a distinct and meandered low‐flow channel with pool‐riffle sequences. Macroinvertebrates were collected in random sampling protocols stratified at in‐stream biotope level. The rehabilitated reach was compared with a semi‐natural upstream reach as a reference, and a similarly degraded reach as a control. This study demonstrated that rehabilitation of the River Welland had clear beneficial effects on ecological processes. It demonstrated that active re‐creation of lost biotope heterogeneity improved macroinvertebrate biodiversity and secondary production, which is the formation of heterotrophic biomass through time. The rehabilitated reach yielded higher production estimates for Gastropoda, Bivalvia, Malacostraca, Odonata, Arachnida and Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera, and a lower estimate for Chironomidae relative to the control reach. The rehabilitated reach also had higher estimates of production for Shredder, Scraper, Filter‐feeder and Predator feeding groups relative to the control reach. Rehabilitation works transformed the reach from a condition more akin to the degraded reach to being more similar to the semi‐natural reach. These outcomes demonstrate recovery of the reach's entire macroinvertebrate community structure and function after rehabilitation. The results provide a clear message to river rehabilitation practitioners: rehabilitation of the function of a physically degraded river ecosystem is possible if the rehabilitation is planned to actively restore the lost in‐stream biotope diversity.

中文翻译：

---

大型无脊椎动物的二次生产是溪流修复成功的指标

水文形态恢复越来越多地用于逆转河流和河流生态系统的退化。然而，由于未达到其目标或未充分监测以评估其目标是否得到实现而对河流修复项目提出了批评。因此，迫切需要开发强有力的方法来评估治疗效果，从而指导在康复方面不断增加的投资。英国莱斯特郡韦兰河的源头支流于2014年夏季进行了修复。修复工作包括拆除堰坝，并创建一条独特的，曲折的低水流河道，并带有池滩序列。大型无脊椎动物是按随机取样方案收集的，并按流内生物群落水平分层。将恢复后的河段与半天然上游河段作为参照进行比较，将类似退化的河段作为对照。这项研究表明，韦兰河的修复对生态过程具有明显的有利影响。它表明，丧失的生物群落异质性的主动重建改善了大型无脊椎动物的生物多样性和次级生产，这是随着时间的推移异养生物质的形成。修复后的河段对腹足纲，双壳纲，马拉科斯特拉，齿形纲，蛛形纲和E翅目，鞘翅目和毛鳞翅目的产量估算较高，而与拟南芥相比，尺Chi科的产量估算较低。相对于控制范围，恢复后的范围对切碎机，刮板机，过滤器进料器和捕食者进食组的产量也有更高的估计。修复工作将覆盖范围从更类似于退化的覆盖范围转变为更类似于半自然覆盖范围。这些结果表明康复后恢复了触角的整个大型无脊椎动物群落结构和功能。结果为河流修复从业者提供了明确的信息：如果计划进行修复以积极恢复流失的生物群落多样性，则可以修复物理退化的河流生态系统的功能。