Riparian
Riparian
Riparian ecologists in the AS Branch study interactions among flow, channel change, and vegetation along rivers across the western United States and worldwide. Our work focuses on issues relevant to the management of water and public lands, including dam operation, climate change, invasive species, and ecological restoration. Investigations take place on a range of scales. For example, experimental studies in pots and growth chambers detect genetic, phenotypic, and species variations in response to environmental conditions, such as drought, frost, mycorrhizal inoculation, salinity, and carbon dioxide enrichment.
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Reconstructing Flow History From Riparian Tree Rings
FORT aquatic scientists analyze rings of riparian trees relating tree growth and establishment to historical flow. We then use the tree rings to reconstruct the flow in past centuries. Flow reconstructions discover the frequency and magnitude of past droughts and floods—information that is essential for management of rivers and water supplies. We also use downscaled climate projections and...
Ecological Drought in Riparian Ecosystems
Drought is killing riparian trees along many rivers in the western United States. The cause can be increasing temperature or decreasing precipitation, flow or water-table elevation. At multiple locations we are relating water availability to physiological measurements of tree survival and water stress, such as ring width, carbon stable isotope ratio and branch hydraulic conductivity. These...
Ecology and Management of Invasive Riparian Plants
Due to high rates of disturbance and human activity, streamside or “riparian” areas are prone to colonization and spread of invasive plants. In the western United States, hundreds of thousands of riparian acres are occupied by the invasive shrubs/trees tamarisk and Russian olive, as well as numerous exotic herbaceous plants. Our work focuses on understanding the factors driving the distribution...
Erosion and Invasive Saltcedar
Formation of arroyos in the late 1800s greatly increased erosion across the southwestern United States. Since the 1930s, however, this erosion has decreased, partly because of bank stabilization by introduced saltcedar. With Isleta Pueblo Indian Nation, the Aquatic Systems Branch developed a new sediment dating method using saltcedar tree rings. We applied the method in a landmark study of arroyo...
Riparian Ecology
Riparian ecologists at the Fort Collins Science Center study interactions among flow, channel change, and vegetation along rivers across the western United States and worldwide. Our work focuses on issues relevant to the management of water and public lands, including dam operation, climate change, invasive species, and ecological restoration. Investigations take place on a range of scales. For...
Riparian Vegetation Response to Dam Removal
Dam removal is an approach to river restoration that is becoming increasingly common. In most cases, dam removal is driven by considerations other than river restoration like dam safety, but how dam removal affects aquatic and riparian systems is of great interest in many dam removals. My work in this area has had two areas of focus thus far: 1) studies of vegetation and geomorphic change...
Large-scale streamflow experiments
Because the underlying cause of riparian system alteration is often attributed to the effects of dams on flow regime, managing flow releases, particularly high flows, from dams is an often-advocated approach to river and riparian restoration. Our work has focused on understanding effects of managed high flow releases (a.k.a., pulse flows, controlled floods) from dams along rivers in the lower...
Science to Inform Riparian Ecosystem Restoration and Management
Throughout the world, riparian habitats have been dramatically modified from their natural condition. Dams, non-native species and climate change are often principal drivers of these changes, via their alteration of water and sediment regimes that determine key resources for riparian plants.
Biological Invasions of Riparian Ecosystems
Beginning in the early twentieth century, non-native trees and shrubs, including tamarisk (also commonly known as saltcedar) and Russian-olive, were introduced to the United States for use as ornamental plants and in erosion-control plantings. These plants spread extensively, becoming the third and fourth most frequently occurring woody riparian plants in the American West.
Streamflow-fluvial Geomorphology-riparian Vegetation Interactions
The foundation for applying science to river and riparian restoration contexts lies in a basic understanding of the factors that drive riparian vegetation dynamics. Much of our research is focused on clarifying relationships between streamflow, fluvial geomorphology, and riparian vegetation, including various feedbacks.
Ecological Flows
Ecological flow is a central theme of AS Branch studies, as our research examines how water flows affect populations, communities, ecosystems, and hydroscapes. Our studies elucidate the interactions among hydrologic, geomorphologic, biogeochemical, biological, and anthropogenic processes. Branch scientists identify and quantify the spatial and temporal attributes of water flow for ecological needs...
Small Unoccupied Aircraft System (sUAS) Flights
Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (sUAS) are an emerging technology which may result in safer and improved methods to conduct wildlife surveys. The objective of this task is to test the capabilities of various cameras and sensors onboard a small Unoccupied (or unmanned) Aircraft System (sUAS) to determine if they are a useful and effective tool to inventory various flora and fauna important to USGS...