title: Typology of historical sources and the reconstruction of long-term historical changes of riverine fish: a case study of the Austrian Danube and northern Russian rivers.
abstract: Historical data are widely used in river ecology to define reference conditions or to investigate the evolution of aquatic systems. Most studies rely on printed documents from the 19th century, thus missing pre-industrial states and human impacts. This article discusses historical sources that can be used to reconstruct the development of riverine fish communities from the Late Middle Ages until the mid-20th century. Based on the studies of the Austrian Danube and northern Russian rivers, we propose a classification scheme of printed and archival sources and describe their fish ecological contents. Five types of sources were identified using the origin of sources as the first criterion: (i) early scientific surveys, (ii) fishery sources, (iii) fish trading sources, (iv) fish consumption sources and (v) cultural representations of fish. Except for early scientific surveys, all these sources were produced within economic and administrative contexts. They did not aim to report about historical fish communities, but do contain information about commercial fish and their exploitation. All historical data need further analysis for a fish ecological interpretation. Three case studies from the investigated Austrian and Russian rivers demonstrate the use of different source types and underline the necessity for a combination of different sources and a methodology combining different disciplinary approaches. Using a large variety of historical sources to reconstruct the development of past fish ecological conditions can support future river management by going beyond the usual approach of static historical reference conditions.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Hydrobiology and Aquatic Ecosystem Management, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU), Max Emanuelstraße 17, 1180, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Gertrud
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Haidvogl
authors.affiliation: Department of Ichthyology and Hydrobiology, St. Petersburg State University, 16 linia V.O. 29, 199034, St. Petersburg, Russia.
authors.forename: Dmitry
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lajus
authors.affiliation: National Research Institute of Sciences and Technology for Environment and Agriculture (Irstea), Centre d'Antony. UR HBAN 1, rue Pierre-Gilles de Gennes, CS 10030, 92761, Antony, France.
authors.forename: Didier
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pont
authors.affiliation: Social Ecology Vienna/Center for Environmental History, IFF - Faculty for Interdisciplinary Studies, Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt, Schottenfeldgasse 29, 1070, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schmid
authors.affiliation: Institute of Hydrobiology and Aquatic Ecosystem Management, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU), Max Emanuelstraße 17, 1180, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Mathias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jungwirth
authors.affiliation: Center for Environmental and Technological History, European University at St. Petersburg, Gagarinskaia Street 3, 191187, St. Petersburg, Russia.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lajus
keywords: Austrian rivers; Historical ecology; Historical fish communities; Russian rivers; written sources