{
  "id": 16103482,
  "title": "Stream restoration improves biodiversity but not necessarily ecosystem functioning",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/22/stream-restoration-improves-biodiversity-but-not-necessarily",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-10-22T20:50:01.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Phys.org",
    "slug": "phys-org",
    "url": "https://phys.org/news/2026-10-stream-biodiversity-necessarily-ecosystem-functioning.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The EU Nature Restoration Regulation, adopted in 2024, mandates the restoration of ecosystem functions as a goal for stream restoration projects, but a new meta-analysis suggests that conventional measures often fall short of achieving this objective. While restoration efforts can enhance stream structure and biodiversity, critical ecological processes like nutrient uptake and organic matter decomposition may not recover. Published in Global Change Biology, the study recommends incorporating functional indicators into monitoring and assessments to better evaluate restoration success. Many European rivers and streams have been altered through barriers, bank reinforcement, straightening, and channeling, leading to reduced biodiversity and weakened natural self-purification. Common restoration measures such as channel reconfiguration, barrier removal, floodplain reconnection, riparian vegetation restoration, and large wood addition can improve aquatic community diversity and composition. However, these measures alone are generally insufficient to restore ecosystem functions. The research, led by Ulrike Haase of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, analyzed data from 281 stream sites across Europe, North America, Asia, and Oceania, focusing on 27 functional parameters. Only denitrification showed significantly lower rates in restored streams compared to degraded ones, potentially indicating lower nutrient enrichment rather than function deterioration. Overall, biological characteristics like species diversity improved following restoration, but ecosystem functions like gross primary production and nutrient uptake did not necessarily recover. The study highlights the need for standardized assessment procedures and suitable reference values to develop functional indicators for evaluating restoration success.",
  "summary": "The EU Nature Restoration Regulation adopted in 2024 establishes the restoration of ecosystem functions as an objective of stream restoration. But can conventional measures that focus primarily on restoring the physical structure of rivers and streams fulfill this task?",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}