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Riparian Forests Active

By Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center November 13, 2017

Riparian vegetation is an often ignored yet critical source of nutrition for riparian food webs. Many food webs are supported at their base by the breakdown and incorporation of leaf litter into fungi, insects, etc. In headwater streams, riparian leaf litter inputs provide essential subsidies that fuel in-stream productivity, in addition to subsidizing food chains of terrestrial riparian habitats. Research in this area addresses how plant community composition and other factors influence the delivery of detritus from riparian forests to headwater stream ecosystems.

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Below are other science projects associated with this project.

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Terrestrial Ecosystems Laboratory (FRESC)

Research in our laboratory centers on the ecology and biogeochemistry of forest ecosystems, as well as grassland and riparian systems. We examine how factors such as natural and human disturbances, climate and climate change, succession, and soil fertility shape ecosystem biogeochemistry - and the reciprocal effect of biogeochemical cycles on these and other factors.
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Land Management Research Program, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center
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Terrestrial Ecosystems Laboratory (FRESC)

Research in our laboratory centers on the ecology and biogeochemistry of forest ecosystems, as well as grassland and riparian systems. We examine how factors such as natural and human disturbances, climate and climate change, succession, and soil fertility shape ecosystem biogeochemistry - and the reciprocal effect of biogeochemical cycles on these and other factors.
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Below are publications associated with this project.

Riparian soil nitrogen cycling and isotopic enrichment in response to a long-term salmon carcass manipulation experiment

Pacific salmon acquire most of their biomass in the ocean before returning to spawn and die in coastal streams and lakes, thus providing subsidies of marine‐derived nitrogen (MDN) to freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. Recent declines in salmon abundance have raised questions of whether managers should mitigate for losses of salmon MDN subsidies. To test the long‐term importance of salmon subsi
Authors
Megan Feddern, Gordon W. Holtgrieve, Steven Perakis, Julia A. Hart, Hyejoo Ro, Tom Quinn
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center

Riparian soil development linked to forest succession above and below dams along the Elwha River, Washington, USA

Riparian forest soils can be highly dynamic, due to frequent fluvial disturbance, erosion, and sediment deposition, but effects of dams on riparian soils are poorly understood. We examined soils along toposequences within three river segments located upstream, between, and downstream of two dams on the Elwha River to evaluate relationships between riparian soil development and forest age, successi
Authors
Laura G Perry, Patrick B. Shafroth, Steven Perakis
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Fort Collins Science Center, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center

Combined use of isotopic and hydrometric data to conceptualize ecohydrological processes in a high-elevation tropical ecosystem

Few high-elevation tropical catchments worldwide are gauged and even fewer are studied using combined hydrometric and isotopic data. Consequently, we lack information needed to understand processes governing rainfall-runoff dynamics and to predict their influence on downstream ecosystem functioning. To address this need, we present a combination of hydrometric and water stable isotopic observation
Authors
Giovanny M Mosquera, Rolando Celleri, Patricio X Lazo, Kellie B Vache, Steven Perakis, Patricio Crespo
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center

Riparian litter inputs to streams in the central Oregon Coast Range

Riparian-zone vegetation can influence terrestrial and aquatic food webs through variation in the amount, timing, and nutritional content of leaf and other litter inputs. We investigated how riparian-forest community composition, understory density, and lateral slope shaped vertical and lateral litter inputs to 16 streams in the Oregon Coast Range. Riparian forests dominated by deciduous red alder
Authors
Stephanie K. Hart, David E. Hibbs, Steven S. Perakis
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center

Interactions of tissue and fertilizer nitrogen on decomposition dynamics of lignin-rich conifer litter

High tissue nitrogen (N) accelerates decomposition of high-quality leaf litter in the early phases of mass loss, but the influence of initial tissue N variation on the decomposition of lignin-rich litter is less resolved. Because environmental changes such as atmospheric N deposition and elevated CO2 can alter tissue N levels within species more rapidly than they alter the species composition of e
Authors
Steven S. Perakis, Joselin J. Matkins, David E. Hibbs
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center

δ15N patterns of Douglas-fir and red alder riparian forests in the Oregon Coast Range

We used naturally occurring stable isotopes of N to compare N dynamics in near-stream and upslope environments along riparian catenas in N-fixing red alder (Alnus rubra) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) forests in the Coast Range of western Oregon. Based on the existing literature, we expected soil δ15N to be enriched closer to streams owing to inputs of isotopically heavy, marine-derived N
Authors
E.E. Scott, S.S. Perakis, D.E. Hibbs
By
Ecosystems Mission Area, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center