[Large Lowland rivers…]

The large lowland rivers are probably the ecosystems in Europe that have suffered most from human impacts during the last 100 years. The hydrological and geomorphological characteristics of European rivers have changed due to the construction of hydropower plants, regulation work for navigation purposes, land reclamation projects and large-scale flood control measures. To improve the ecological values of rivers various measures have been proposed but this thesis focuses on the (re)opening of secondary channels.