MoRPh is a tool for monitoring the physical quality of river channels and their margins. The MoRPh survey forms part of a modular approach to monitoring the physical character of rivers and how this changes through time and across space. Indicators derived from MoRPh surveys describe different properties of the river’s physical habitat mosaic, which is an important control on the organisms that may live in the monitored river reach.
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 quality to be tracked and the way these change in response to restoration and management actions. 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 river lengths, indicators of habitat structure and quality are derived for longer river lengths and so for more mobile organisms, such as fish.
Variations of the river MoRPh survey method have also been developed for Temporary Rivers and Streams and Estuaries, and a professional version (River Condition Assessment) has been developed for calculating Biodiversity Net Gain.
Suitability for monitoring purpose:
| Monitoring purpose category | Likely tier(s) What’s this? | Suitability |
| Engagement: Education and raising awareness | 0-1 | ✖ |
| Surveillance: Ecosystem health screening | 1 (2) | ✓ |
| Investigation: Helping to target further action | 2 (3) | ✓ |
| Evaluation: Assessing the impact of actions | 2 (3) | ✓ |
Example monitoring questions that this method can inform:
- What is the quality of river habitats and the processes that support them?
- What is the Baseline river health (including the wider catchment, land us & soil health) to target restoration work and inform catchment scale planning ?
- What are the key drivers of fish kills in recent years?
- How will new housing development along the river impact sediment & nutrient pollution & flow regimes?
- Where are there opportunities for biodiversity net gain & restoration planning?
- How has weir removal changed the health of this reach of river?
- How much have our nature based solutions (wetland creation and riparian habitat management) made a difference in the health of the river and catchment?
- Have our NFM measures made a difference to the health of the river?
Data System: Cartographer. https://modularriversurvey.org/map/
Cost: Significant. The main costs are for training and to set up a project within Cartographer for a local coordinator to access and manage data records.
Ease of Use: One day of training is required for volunteers and/or volunteer coordinators, with courses run by Cartographer on request.
Quality control: Local coordinators responsible for quality control. Train-the-trainer sessions available for coordinators to cover QC – prerequisite is having attended the initial training and completed 10 surveys on 3 different rivers.
Coverage / Scale: The scheme is available in UK and Ireland, but has mainly been rolled out in the south, east and midlands of England.
Health & Safety: Training course covers health and safety.
Method sponsor/ owner / primary user: Cartographer Studios
Learn more: https://modularriversurvey.org/morph-citizen-science/
CaSTCo Investment: CaSTCo is reviewing and investing in this method to optimise data quality, ease of use and cost, including rolling out training and investing in data systems.