{"id":443,"date":"2024-10-01T12:36:21","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T12:36:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/castco.wpenginepowered.com\/?post_type=ht_kb&p=443"},"modified":"2025-04-16T16:45:15","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T16:45:15","slug":"morph-rivers","status":"publish","type":"ht_kb","link":"https:\/\/castco.org\/knowledge-base\/morph-rivers\/","title":{"rendered":"Method audit: MoRPh"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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MoRPh is a tool for monitoring the detailed physical character and condition of short lengths of river channels and their margins. The MoRPh survey forms part of a modular approach to monitoring the physical character of rivers and how they change through time and across space. Indicators derived from MoRPh surveys describe different properties of the river\u2019s physical habitat mosaic, an important control on the organisms that may live in the monitored river reach.
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Following one day of training, volunteer surveyors record information on the form, sediments, vegetation structure, and human modifications of short river reaches, typically 10m to 40 m in length, allowing their physical character and condition to be tracked and the way these change in response to restoration and management actions to be quantified. Individual MoRPh surveys are often used to record the physical habitat around biological monitoring sites and are particularly helpful for interpreting the habitat of less mobile river organisms such as invertebrate species. By surveying ten adjacent (end-to-end) river lengths, indicators of habitat structure and quality are derived for extended lengths of river and so capture the habitats available for more mobile organisms, such as fish, as well as summarising the impacts of restoration and other management interventions.
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Suitability for monitoring purpose:<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monitoring purpose category<\/strong><\/td>Likely tier(s) <\/strong>What’s this?<\/a><\/em><\/td>Suitability<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Engagement: Education and raising awareness<\/td>0-1<\/td>\u2716<\/td><\/tr>
Surveillance: Ecosystem health screening<\/td>1 (2)<\/td>\u2713<\/td><\/tr>
Investigation: Helping to target further action<\/td>2 (3)<\/td>\u2713<\/td><\/tr>
Evaluation: Assessing the impact of actions<\/td>2 (3)<\/td>\u2713<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Example monitoring questions that this method can inform:<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n