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Molly Van Appledorn, PhD

My research centers on understanding how river-floodplain ecosystems function by combining tools and approaches from the disciplines of ecology, hydrology, hydraulics, geomorphology, geographic information science, and statistics. By unpacking important ecosystem processes I can contribute to better stewardship of the unique sets of natural resources they support.

A large focus of my work is to describe the relationships between flooding dynamics and ecological patterns and processes. I also regularly collaborate with other scientists to understand climate change impacts on river-floodplain ecosystems; silvicultural best practices in floodplain forests; and how hydrologic, sediment, and wood regimes interact to shape the quality and distribution of aquatic habitats. The research is used to inform management practices by partner agencies and stakeholders to ensure the long-term sustainability of our ecosystems.

Education and Certifications

  • Environmental Science B.S., 2003, University of Michigan

  • Ecology M.S., 2009, Utah State University

  • Geography and Environmental Systems Ph.D., 2016, University of Maryland Baltimore County

Science and Products

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Delacroix area Mississippi river delta

Workshop: Natural Solutions to Ecological and Economic Problems Caused by Extreme Precipitation Events in the Upper Mississippi River Basin

Future climate conditions in the Upper Mississippi River Basin are projected to include many more extreme precipitation events. These intense periods of rain can lead to flooding of the Mississippi River itself, as well the small streams and rivers that feed it. This flooding presents a challenge for local communities, farmers, small businesses, river users, and the ecosystems and wildlife in the
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Climate Adaptation Science Centers
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Workshop: Natural Solutions to Ecological and Economic Problems Caused by Extreme Precipitation Events in the Upper Mississippi River Basin

Future climate conditions in the Upper Mississippi River Basin are projected to include many more extreme precipitation events. These intense periods of rain can lead to flooding of the Mississippi River itself, as well the small streams and rivers that feed it. This flooding presents a challenge for local communities, farmers, small businesses, river users, and the ecosystems and wildlife in the
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Upper Mississippi River Floodplain Backwater Forest

Characterizing Climate-Driven Changes to Flood Events and Floodplain Forests in the Upper Mississippi River to Inform Management

Floodplain forests along the Upper Mississippi River are heavily managed but understudied systems that provide critical ecosystem services, including habitat for endangered species. Impacts of a changing climate, such as warmer winters and wetter summers with extreme precipitation events, are already influencing hydrologic patterns in these ecosystems, including altering the duration, frequency, a
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Climate Adaptation Science Centers
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Characterizing Climate-Driven Changes to Flood Events and Floodplain Forests in the Upper Mississippi River to Inform Management

Floodplain forests along the Upper Mississippi River are heavily managed but understudied systems that provide critical ecosystem services, including habitat for endangered species. Impacts of a changing climate, such as warmer winters and wetter summers with extreme precipitation events, are already influencing hydrologic patterns in these ecosystems, including altering the duration, frequency, a
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Pool 8/Pettibone Island, Upper Mississippi River, Spring 2019, flooding

Forest Landscape Ecology of the Upper Mississippi River Floodplain

Forests are the dominant land cover along the floodplain of the Upper Mississippi River System. These forests are primarily made up of relatively short-lived and rapidly growing species, such as willow, cottonwood, silver maple, green ash, American elm, but with inclusions of slower growing and longer-lived species, such as oak and hickory species.
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Land Management Research Program, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
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Forest Landscape Ecology of the Upper Mississippi River Floodplain

Forests are the dominant land cover along the floodplain of the Upper Mississippi River System. These forests are primarily made up of relatively short-lived and rapidly growing species, such as willow, cottonwood, silver maple, green ash, American elm, but with inclusions of slower growing and longer-lived species, such as oak and hickory species.
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Functional diversity metrics of floodplain forests from Michigan's Lower Peninsula

Floodplain forest species are presumed to interact strongly with the environment, as evidenced by pronounced spatial variation in flood-driven abiotic constraints and forest composition. These data describe functional diversity and environmental characteristics for 156 forest assemblages sampled on floodplain landforms within transects from the lower peninsula of Michigan. The functional diversity
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Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Flood regimes alter the role of landform and topographic constraint on functional diversity of floodplain forests

Understanding patterns of species coexistence is a fundamental challenge in ecology. The physical environment is believed to play an important role, influencing patterns of dispersal and biotic interactions across space and time. Floodplain forest species are presumed to interact strongly with their environment, as evidenced by pronounced spatial variation in forest composition associated with flo
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Ecosystems, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Survival and growth of four floodplain forest species in an Upper Mississippi River underplanting

Forest restoration efforts commonly occur in degraded ecosystems. For the floodplain forests of the Upper Mississippi River, the combination of aging canopy trees and expansion of invasive species such as reed canary grass (Phalaris arundinacea L.) can shift forested ecosystems to open meadows. Before this shift occurs, there may be opportunities to proactively underplant. Our study reports 2-year
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Ecosystems, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

What is a stand? Assessing the variability of composition and structure in floodplain forest ecosystems across spatial scales in the Upper Mississippi River

The forest stand typically represents relatively homogenous forest conditions; the forest stand is generally the unit at which forest attributes are assessed, summarized, and subsequently managed. However, some ecosystems, such as the floodplain forests of the Upper Mississippi River (UMR), can exhibit high variability at fine spatial scales that can confound prescription development, implementati
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Ecosystems, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Loss of phylogenetic diversity under landscape change

Habitat alteration and destruction are primary drivers of biodiversity loss. However, the evolutionary dimensions of biodiversity loss remain largely unexplored in many systems. For example, little is known about how habitat alteration/loss can lead to phylogenetic deconstruction of ecological assemblages at the local level. That is, while species loss is evident, are some lineages favored over ot
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Ecosystems, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Using Markov chains to quantitatively assess movement patterns of invasive fishes impacted by a carbon dioxide barrier in outdoor ponds

Natural resource managers use barriers to deter the movement of aquatic invasive species. Research and development of new invasive species barriers is often evaluated in pond and field scales using high‐resolution telemetry data. Telemetry data sets can be a rich source of data about fish movement and behavior but can be difficult to analyze due to the size of these data sets as well as their irre
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Ecosystems, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Quantifying and mapping inundation regimes within a large river‐floodplain ecosystem for ecological and management applications

Spatial information on the distribution of ecosystem patterns and processes can be a critical component of designing and implementing effective management programs in river‐floodplain ecosystems. For example, translating how flood pulses detected within a stream gauge record are spatially manifested across a river‐valley bottom can be used to evaluate whether the current distribution of physical c
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Ecosystems, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Spatially explicit modelling of floodplain forest succession: Interactions among flood inundation, forest successional processes, and other disturbances in the Upper Mississippi River floodplain, USA

Simulation models are often used to identify hydrologic regimes suitable for different riparian or floodplain tree species. However, most existing models pay little attention to forest successional processes or other disturbances that may interact with the hydrologic regime of river systems to alter forest dynamics in space and time. In this study, we introduce a flood disturbance module to the LA
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Ecosystems, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Applying concepts of general resilience to large river ecosystems: A case study from the Upper Mississippi and Illinois rivers

Large floodplain-river ecosystems are often highly modified to provide services that society desires, yet these modifications can limit an ecosystem’s ability to adapt to changing conditions. The adaptive capacity of an ecosystem, its general resilience, is a conceptual framework for considering how a system will respond to such changes. We sought to apply aspects of three general resilience princ
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Ecosystems, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center

River‐valley morphology, basin size, and flow‐event magnitude interact to produce wide variation in flooding dynamics

Inundation dynamics are a key driver of ecosystem form and function in river‐valley bottoms. Inundation itself is an outcome of multi‐scalar interactions and can vary strongly within and among river reaches. As a result, establishing to what degree and how inundation dynamics vary spatially both within and among river reaches can be challenging. The objective of this study was to understand how ri
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Ecosystems, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Indicators of ecosystem structure and function for the Upper Mississippi River System

This report documents the development of quantitative measures (indicators) of ecosystem structure and function for use in a Habitat Needs Assessment (HNA) for the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). HNAs are led periodically by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Upper Mississippi River Restoration (UMRR) Program, which is the primary habitat restoration program on the UMRS. The UMRR Program hel
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Ecosystems, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center

Non-USGS Publications**

Van Appledorn, M., Lamb, D.A., Albalak, K., Bach, C.E. 2007. Zebra mussels decrease burrowing ability and growth of a native snail, Campeloma decisum. Hydrobiologia 575: 441 - 445. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-006-0280-3
Van Appledorn, M., Bach, C.E. 2007. Effects of zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) on mobility of three native mollusk species. American Midland Naturalist 158(2): 329 - 338. https://doi.org/10.1674/0003-0031(2007)158[329:EOZMDP]2.0.CO;2
Van Appledorn, M., Baker, M.E., and Miller, A.J. 2019. Empirical evaluation of two-dimensional unsteady hydraulic models for applications in floodplain forest ecology. Physical Geography. DOI: 10.1080/02723646.2019.1676186

**Disclaimer: The views expressed in Non-USGS publications are those of the author and do not represent the views of the USGS, Department of the Interior, or the U.S. Government.

Science and Products