The large-scale degradation of riparian ecotones and of the connectivity between rivers and their floodplains has resulted in a drastic decline of rheophilic fish populations in European temperate lowland rivers. Recent river restoration projects have had variable success in effectively restoring these fish populations. Knowledge on nursery habitat requirements is considered essential for effective population restoration. However, a detailed understanding of the role of habitat heterogeneity in young-of-the-year (YOY) fish population development is limited. Therefore, we carried out a synthesis of the available knowledge on nursery habitat requirements of rheophilic fish species found in European temperate lowland rivers (<200 m elevation). From a total of 603 papers, 77 studies with primary information were selected, containing 390 associations between habitat features and YOY fish. As expected, most studies focused on static components of physical riparian habitat. Generally, YOY fish require habitats of shallow depth (<0.5 m), with slow-flowing water (<0.2 m/s), gentle bank slope (<20°), variety in substratum types (fine sand to gravel), relatively warm water and high food availability. Surprisingly, no clear ontogenetic habitat shifts between larvae and juveniles were found, which may be explained by the limited spatial–temporal resolution of most studies. Since 2011, studies on habitat heterogeneity have increased, but few have explicitly assessed its role in relation to movement patterns of YOY fish for nursery success. Therefore, we recommend that future research focuses on fish movement patterns between habitat patches in heterogeneous (river-floodplain) environments, to increase the knowledge base for effective recovery of rheophilic fish populations.

中文翻译：

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欧洲低地河流嗜流性鱼类育苗栖息地的环境要求和异质性：当前见解和未来挑战

河岸交错带的大规模退化以及河流与其洪泛区之间的连通性导致欧洲温带低地河流的嗜流性鱼类种群急剧下降。最近的河流恢复项目在有效恢复这些鱼类种群方面取得了不同程度的成功。关于苗圃栖息地要求的知识被认为对于有效的种群恢复至关重要。然而，对栖息地异质性在幼鱼（YOY）种群发展中的作用的详细了解是有限的。因此，我们对在欧洲温带低地河流（海拔<200 m）中发现的嗜流性鱼类的育苗栖息地要求的现有知识进行了综合。从总共 603 篇论文中，选择了 77 篇具有主要信息的研究，包含栖息地特征和 YOY 鱼类之间的 390 个关联。正如预期的那样，大多数研究都集中在物理河岸栖息地的静态组成部分。一般来说，YOY 鱼需要较浅的栖息地（<0.5 m），水流缓慢（<0.2 m/s），岸坡平缓（<20°），基质类型多样（细沙到砾石），相对温暖水和高食物供应。令人惊讶的是，在幼虫和幼鱼之间没有发现明显的个体发育栖息地变化，这可能是由于大多数研究的时空分辨率有限。自 2011 年以来，关于栖息地异质性的研究有所增加，但很少有人明确评估其与 YOY 鱼的运动模式相关的作用，以实现育苗成功。所以，