
A new paper published by PhD student Renan Leite, co-authored by researcher José Maria Santos, demonstrates that the implementation of a lateral refuge against hydropic effects is a successful measure for protecting the fish community.
“The hide-and-seek effect of pulsed-flows in a potamodromous cyprinid fish” is the new article published by Renan Leite, a doctoral student on the FLUVIO – River Restoration and Management programme at the Centre for Forestry Studies (Centro de Estudos Florestais – CEF) of the Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA) and CERIS – Civil Engineering Research and Innovation for Sustainability of the Instituto Superior Técnico, co-authored by CEF researcher José Maria Santos.


The artificial pulsed-flows impact associated with hydropower production on the downstream biological and physical processes has been extensively addressed, showing that it may cause fish drift while changing fish habitat selection toward lower water velocity patches, acting as refuge areas. We aimed of the authors of this study was to evaluate the attraction efficiency of two flow-refuges differing in their approaching angles, for Luciobarbus bocagei at an indoor experimental flume.

The paper “The hide-and-seek effect of pulsed-flows in a potamodromous cyprinid fish” can be found online in the journal Hydrobiologia – see here.