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
Molly Van Appledorn, PhD
Biography
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.
I am currently involved in a collaborative project to describe the relationships between flooding dynamics and forest composition and structure for the 2.6 million acre Upper Mississippi River System floodplain. The research results will be used to inform management practices by partner agencies and stakeholders to ensure the long-term sustainability of a national treasure.
Prior to joining the USGS in 2016 as an Ecologist, I received training in Geography and Environmental Systems (Ph.D., 2016, University of Maryland Baltimore County), Ecology (M.S., 2009, Utah State University), and Environmental Science (B.S., 2003, University of Michigan).
Science and Products
Date published: February 20, 2020
Status: Active 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.
Contacts: Molly Van Appledorn, PhD
Attribution: Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Date published: May 10, 2019
Temperature Records for Empirical Evaluation of the UMRS Floodplain Inundation Model
Hourly ambient temperature data were collected as part of an effort to empirically evaluate the Upper Mississippi River System inundation model. The goal of this sampling effort was to document inundation through space and time at a limited number of sites but across the range of flow conditions experienced throughout the 2017 growing season. We used temperature data loggers (Onset HOBO...
Attribution: Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Date published: September 5, 2018
Complex interactions among river-valley morphology, basin size, and flow-event magnitude structure the physical template of floodplain ecosystems. Data
Various datasets used in support of research looking into complex interactions among river-valley morphology, basin size, and flow-event magnitude structure the physical template of floodplain ecosystems.
Attribution: Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Date published: June 20, 2018
UMRS Floodplain Inundation Attributes - Pool 16
Floodplain inundation is believed to be the dominant physical driver of an array of ecosystem patterns and processes in the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). Here, we present the results of a geospatial surface-water connectivity model in support of ecological investigations fully described in the USGS Open File Report entitled “Indicators of Ecosystem Structure and Function fo
Attribution: Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Date published: June 20, 2018
UMRS Floodplain Inundation Attributes - Pool 17
Floodplain inundation is believed to be the dominant physical driver of an array of ecosystem patterns and processes in the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). Here, we present the results of a geospatial surface-water connectivity model in support of ecological investigations fully described in the USGS Open File Report entitled “Indicators of Ecosystem Structure and Function fo
Attribution: Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Date published: June 20, 2018
UMRS Floodplain Inundation Attributes - Pool 18
Floodplain inundation is believed to be the dominant physical driver of an array of ecosystem patterns and processes in the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). Here, we present the results of a geospatial surface-water connectivity model in support of ecological investigations fully described in the USGS Open File Report entitled “Indicators of Ecosystem Structure and Function fo
Attribution: Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Date published: June 20, 2018
UMRS Floodplain Inundation Attributes - Illinois River Reach - Peoria Pool
Floodplain inundation is believed to be the dominant physical driver of an array of ecosystem patterns and processes in the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). Here, we present the results of a geospatial surface-water connectivity model in support of ecological investigations fully described in the USGS Open File Report entitled “Indicators of Ecosystem Structure and Function fo
Attribution: Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Date published: June 20, 2018
UMRS Floodplain Inundation Attributes - Pool 3
Floodplain inundation is believed to be the dominant physical driver of an array of ecosystem patterns and processes in the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). Here, we present the results of a geospatial surface-water connectivity model in support of ecological investigations fully described in the USGS Open File Report entitled “Indicators of Ecosystem Structure and Function fo
Attribution: Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Date published: June 20, 2018
UMRS Floodplain Inundation Attributes - Pool 19
Floodplain inundation is believed to be the dominant physical driver of an array of ecosystem patterns and processes in the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). Here, we present the results of a geospatial surface-water connectivity model in support of ecological investigations fully described in the USGS Open File Report entitled “Indicators of Ecosystem Structure and Function fo
Attribution: Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Date published: June 20, 2018
UMRS Floodplain Inundation Attributes - Illinois River Reach - Starved Rock Pool
Floodplain inundation is believed to be the dominant physical driver of an array of ecosystem patterns and processes in the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). Here, we present the results of a geospatial surface-water connectivity model in support of ecological investigations fully described in the USGS Open File Report entitled “Indicators of Ecosystem Structure and Function fo
Attribution: Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Date published: June 20, 2018
UMRS Floodplain Inundation Attributes - Pool 4
Floodplain inundation is believed to be the dominant physical driver of an array of ecosystem patterns and processes in the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). Here, we present the results of a geospatial surface-water connectivity model in support of ecological investigations fully described in the USGS Open File Report entitled “Indicators of Ecosystem Structure and Function fo
Attribution: Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Date published: June 20, 2018
UMRS Floodplain Inundation Attributes - Pool 20
Floodplain inundation is believed to be the dominant physical driver of an array of ecosystem patterns and processes in the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). Here, we present the results of a geospatial surface-water connectivity model in support of ecological investigations fully described in the USGS Open File Report entitled “Indicators of Ecosystem Structure and Function fo
Attribution: Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Date published: June 20, 2018
UMRS Floodplain Inundation Attributes - Pool 5
Floodplain inundation is believed to be the dominant physical driver of an array of ecosystem patterns and processes in the Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS). Here, we present the results of a geospatial surface-water connectivity model in support of ecological investigations fully described in the USGS Open File Report entitled “Indicators of Ecosystem Structure and Function fo
Attribution: Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center
Year Published: 2019
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...
De Jager, Nathan R.; Van Appledorn, Molly; Fox, Timothy J.; Rohweder, Jason J.; Guyon, Lyle J.; Meier, Andrew R.; Cosgriff, Robert J.; Vandermyde, Benjamin J.Attribution: Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2019
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...
De Jager, Nathan R.; Van Appledorn, Molly; Fox, Timothy J.; Rohweder, Jason J.; Guyon, Lyle J.; Meier, Andrew R.; Cosgriff, Robert J.; Vandermyde, Benjamin J.Attribution: Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2019
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...
Bouska, Kristen L.; Houser, Jeffrey N.; De Jager, Nathan R.; Van Appledorn, Molly; Rogala, James T.Attribution: Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2019
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...
Bouska, Kristen L.; Houser, Jeffrey N.; De Jager, Nathan R.; Van Appledorn, Molly; Rogala, James T.Attribution: Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2019
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....
Van Appledorn, Molly; Baker, Matthew E.; Miller, Andrew J.Attribution: Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2019
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....
Van Appledorn, Molly; Baker, Matthew E.; Miller, Andrew J.Attribution: Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Ecosystems
Year Published: 2018
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...
De Jager, Nathan R.; Rogala, James T.; Rohweder, Jason J.; Van Appledorn, Molly; Bouska, Kristen L.; Houser, Jeffrey N.; Jankowski, Kathi JoAttribution: Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Ecosystems
View Citation
De Jager, N.R., Rogala, J.T., Rohweder, J.J., Van Appledorn, M., Bouska, K.L., Houser, Jeffrey, N., and Jankowski, K.J., 2018, Indicators of ecosystem structure and function for the Upper Mississippi River System: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1143, 115 p., including 4 appendixes, https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181143.
Year Published: 2018
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...
De Jager, Nathan R.; Rogala, James T.; Rohweder, Jason J.; Van Appledorn, Molly; Bouska, Kristen L.; Houser, Jeffrey N.; Jankowski, Kathi JoAttribution: Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, Ecosystems
View Citation
De Jager, N.R., Rogala, J.T., Rohweder, J.J., Van Appledorn, M., Bouska, K.L., Houser, Jeffrey, N., and Jankowski, K.J., 2018, Indicators of ecosystem structure and function for the Upper Mississippi River System: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1143, 115 p., including 4 appendixes, https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181143.
Pre-USGS Publications
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