Incorporating thermal regimes into environmental flows assessments: modifying dam operations to restore freshwater ecosystem integrity

Summary 1. Despite escalating conflict over fresh water, recent years have witnessed a growing realisation that human society must modify its behaviour to ensure long‐term ecological vitality of riverine ecosystems. In response, ecologists have been increasingly asked to guide instream flow management by providing ‘environmental flow’ prescriptions for sustaining the ecological integrity of riverine systems. 2. Environmental flows are typically discussed in the context of water releases from dams and water allocation for extraction (such as for urban use or irrigation), where there is general agreement that rivers need to exhibit some resemblance of natural flow variability necessary to support a functioning…