channel transformation, gravel bed rivers, incision, ecosystem changes

In the last centuries, gravel-bed rivers in developed countries have undergone rapid changes in channel morphology. The most serious problems include channel transformation related to progressive channel narrowing, incision or bed sediment coarsening. The main reasons for transformations were connected to the human interventions, which affected water and sediment fluxes in the basins. This paper summarizes contemporary research activities focused on these negative effects of channel transformations in the Czech flysch Carpathian rivers (the Morávka, the Olše and the Ostravice draining the highest mountainous areas of the Beskydy Mts).