Introduction

The overall aim of the MARCE project is to assist engineering planning for water resources management by developing a Spatial Decision Support System that will integrate hydrological, geomorphological, water quality and biological information. This project will develop a functional river network, which will be the base for the model result integration and representation, and will constitute the spatial framework in which we will explore biophysical relationships and river functioning. MARCE project aims to factor out the key biophysical relationships that account for the greatest variability in fluvial systems from different environmental domains (Atlantic and Mediterranean) at different spatial scales. Once spatial variability and biophysical relationships are elucidated, a GIS based tool will be created to represent all the information for the whole water agency river network. This tool will assist water managers and decision makers at different spatial scales for integrated catchment management. Finally, we will explore the development of a user-friendly tool that will constitute a management resource for the prediction of river restoration and river engineering works. This tool will be based on modelled data integrated into GIS and will enable environmental water managers to run, manage and analyse the results of the models indicating possible outcomes for selected restoration actions or engineering works