River channel adjustments in Southern Italy over the past 150 years and implications for channel recovery Vittoria Scorpio a , Pietro P.C. Aucelli b , Salvatore I. Giano c , Luca Pisano a , Gaetano Robustelli d , Carmen M. Rosskopf a, ⁎, Marcello Schiattarella c a Department of Biosciences and Territory, University of Molise, Contrada Fonte Lappone, 86090 Pesche, Italy b Department of Environmental Sciences, University Parthenope of Naples, Centro Direzionale, Isola C4, 80143 Napoli, Italy c Department of Sciences, University of Basilicata, Viale dell'Ateneo Lucano 10, 85100 Potenza, Italy d Department of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, University of Calabria, via Pietro Bucci, 87036 Arcavacata di Rende, Italy abstract article info Article history: Received 25 April 2014 Received in revised form 23 June 2015 Accepted 2 July 2015 Available online xxxx Keywords: Channel changes Controlling factors Human interventions Evolutionary trajectories River management Multi-temporal GIS analysis of topographic maps and aerial photographs along with topographic and geomor- phological surveys are used to assess evolutionary trends and key control factors of channel adjustments for five major rivers in southern Italy (the Trigno, Biferno, Volturno, Sinni and Crati rivers) to support assessment of channel recovery and river restoration. Three distinct phases of channel adjustment are identified over the past 150 years primarily driven by human dis- turbances. Firstly, slight channel widening dominated from the last decades of the nineteenth century to the 1950s. Secondly, from the 1950s to the end of the 1990s, altered sediment fluxes induced by in-channel mining and channel works brought about moderate to very intense incision (up to 6–7 m) accompanied by strong chan- nel narrowing (up to 96%) and changes in channel configuration from multi-threaded to single-threaded pat- terns. Thirdly, the period from around 2000 to 2015 has been characterized by channel stabilization and local widening. Evolutionary trajectories of the rivers studied are quite similar to those reconstructed for other Italian rivers, particularly regarding the second phase of channel adjustments and ongoing transitions towards channel recovery in some reaches. Analyses of river dynamics, recovery potential and connectivity with sediment sources of the study reaches, framed in their catchment context, can be used as part of a wider interdisciplinary approach that views effective river restoration alongside sustainable and risk-reduced river management. © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The assessment of hydromorphological conditions of rivers is a fun- damental part of sustainable and efficient river management (e.g. Van der Nat et al., 2003; Downs and Gregory, 2004; Hupp and Rinaldi, 2007; Larsen et al., 2007; Gregory et al., 2008; Habersack and Piégay, 2008; Rinaldi et al., 2009, 2011, 2013; Surian et al., 2009a,b; Kondolf, 2011). The role of fluvial geomorphology in river management and res- toration is now well recognized in the European context, especially within the Water Framework Directive (WFD, European Commission, 2000). Most Italian (e.g. Rinaldi, 2003; Surian and Rinaldi, 2003; Surian et al., 2009b; Comiti et al., 2011; Ziliani and Surian, 2012 and ref- erences therein) and European rivers (e.g. Garcia-Ruiz et al., 1997; Bravard et al., 1999; Lach and Wyżga, 2002; Liébault and Piégay, 2002; Keesstra et al., 2005; Rovira et al., 2005; Kondolf et al., 2007; Wyżga, 2008; Gurnell et al., 2009; Kiss and Blanka, 2012; Rădoane et al., 2013) have experienced considerable channel changes over the past two centuries. Human disturbance has been assessed as a key driver of chan- nel adjustments, as catchment scale (e.g. land use changes and torrent control works) and/or reach scale impacts (e.g. channelization, con- struction of dams, gravel mining, etc.) modify natural sediment and flow regimes (Liébault and Piégay, 2002; Surian and Rinaldi, 2003; Surian et al., 2009a,b,c; Comiti et al., 2011; Preciso et al., 2012; Ziliani and Surian, 2012). These factors work alongside natural control factors (Rumsby and Macklin, 1996; Starkel, 2002; Amsler et al., 2005; Kiss and Blanka, 2012; Rădoane et al., 2013), especially climate change (Knox, 1993; Korhonen and Kuusisto, 2010). Climate change not only impacts upon the efficiency of land degradation processes (Dotterweich, 2008; Notebaert et al., 2011), it also induces land-cover changes which may facilitate or obstruct runoff and soil degradation (Liébault and Piégay, 2002; Starkel, 2002). In many instances, fluvial response to human interventions is much faster and more intense than responses to natural influences (e.g. Leopold, 1973; Petts, 1979; Williams and Wolman, 1984; Knighton, 1991; Kondolf, 1997; Winterbottom, 2000; Marston et al., 2003; Rovira et al., 2005; Gregory, 2006; Ibisate et al., 2013; Segura-Beltrán and Sanchis-Ibor, 2013). In Italy, strong narrowing and moderate to Geomorphology xxx (2015) xxx–xxx ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: rosskopf@unimol.it (C.M. Rosskopf). GEOMOR-05301; No of Pages 14 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2015.07.008 0169-555X/© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Geomorphology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/geomorph Please cite this article as: Scorpio, V., et al., River channel adjustments in Southern Italy over the past 150 years and implications for channel recovery, Geomorphology (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2015.07.008