Martin Baptist
There is an increasing awareness that rivers need more room in order to safeguard flood safety under climate change conditions. Contemporary river management is creating room in the floodplains and allowing, within certain bounds, natural processes of sedimentation and erosion. One of the aims is to restore dynamic conditions, so as to get a sustainable and more diverse river ecosystem that can cope with floods. This new approach requires understanding of the interaction between the biotic and abiotic components of river systems. More specifically, it requires a better understanding of the interaction between flora and fauna and geomorphological factors. This is the object of investigation of the interdiscipline of biogeomorphology. Modelling biogeomorphological processes in river floodplains is the topic of this thesis.
