The main goal of the project is to study the effect of climate change on sediment transport, quality of fish habitats, and flood risk assessment. To this end we will adapt and apply an existing sediment transport model. We will simulate large scale catchment sediment budgets and the consequences of sediment transport on fish survival in river reaches. The model predictions will be compared to data from past flood events in the Alps and from detailed field campaigns investigating fish habitat conditions. In this way, we can quantify the reaction of the components that affect sediment delivery, such as snowmelt, glacial retreat and vegetation cover.

With this project we will improve the understanding of the various effects of climate change in mountain catchments. The findings of our study will help to understand fish habitat disturbances and to formulate recommendations for ecologically sound river management and restoration. Our predictions will represent a good basis for the evaluation of future flood hazards. To enhance knowledge transfer to potential stakeholders, we aim to develop a software tool to predict sediment transport and trout habitat for given climate and flood scenarios, and to hold workshops on best practice guidelines for engineers and decision makers.