Factors Controlling Structural and Floristic Variation of Riparian Zones in a Mountainous Landscape of the Western United States

Merrill, Amy G.; Benning, Tracy L.; Fites, Jo Ann

doi:10.3398/1527-0904(2006)66[137:fcsafv]2.0.co;2

Cited by 6 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Many conventional buffer approaches determine the width of the buffer based on the gradient of the land surface adjacent to the channel, typically to capture the effect of steep slopes with the potential to deliver sediment directly to the channel (e.g. Gregory et al ., ; Kondolf et al ., ; Merrill et al ., ; Xiang, ). However, in the case of Carneros Creek, the adjacent uplands are relatively flat, so we used three uniform buffer distances of 15, 30, and 45 m, as measured from banktop.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anticipatory Management for Instream Habitat: Application to Carneros Creek, California

Beagle

Kondolf

Adams

et al. 2015

River Research & Apps

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Ecological research increasingly demonstrates that the best fish habitat is associated with complex, dynamically migrating channels. Active erosion and deposition create pools, side channels, and surfaces for recruitment of riparian vegetation, resulting in hydraulic complexity. As such, the most effective and sustainable restoration strategies restore natural processes, and in turn, create biological habitat. Nevertheless, there exists a social-cultural preference for stable channels. Landowners are often unhappy with eroding banks and, more broadly, are uncomfortable with 'messy' ecosystems and the erosion, deposition, and channel migration that are essential components of the dynamic channels that provide the greatest floodplain biodiversity. Episodic bank erosion and failure are often treated with emergency response measures, such as riprap and bank hardening. This often results in simplified channels with minimized instream habitat. Here, we propose an alternative management approach for streams with cohesive banks, and where active erosion is concentrated in 'hot spots' that are roughly predictable based on geomorphic analysis. We term the approach anticipatory management and present an application of the approach to Carneros Creek, an incised tributary to the Napa River. We contrast the likely habitat values and agricultural land loss of the anticipatory management approach to: (i) a conventional bank stabilization project proposed for the creek, and (ii) a series of uniform setbacks. Copyright

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anticipatory Management for Instream Habitat: Application to Carneros Creek, California

Beagle

Kondolf

Adams

et al. 2015

River Research & Apps

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“…First, low-relief locations collect and retain moisture more effectively than high-relief locations, thereby providing more favourable microclimates for frogs. Second, vegetation structure and composition can vary across topographic gradients in riparian locations (Merrill et al 2006). Finally, the identity and abundance of both predator and prey species vary in relation to the above processes (e.g.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Limited influence of stream networks on the terrestrial movements of three wetland-dependent frog species

Westgate

Driscoll

Lindenmayer

2012

Biological Conservation

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Quantifying functional connectivity is essential for understanding factors that limit or promote animal dispersal in fragmented landscapes. Topography is a major factor influencing the movement behaviour of many animal species, and therefore the extent of functional connectivity between habitat patches. For pond-breeding frogs, areas of low topographic relief (such as streams or drainage lines) offer damp microhabitats that can facilitate movement through otherwise dry landscapes. However, the extent of topographic bias of frog movements has rarely been quantified. We used a replicated study to compare captures in high-and low-relief transects, for three species from a pond-breeding frog community in southeastern Australia. We captured frogs significantly more often on low-relief transects. However, capture rates decreased with increasing distance from water at similar rates on both high-relief and low-relief transects, and we observed few differences between adult and juvenile movements. Our results suggest that although low-relief drainage lines are important for the pondbreeding frogs in question, ecologists and landscape managers should not discount the role of highrelief locations. Because low-relief drainage lines represent a low proportion of the pond margin, >90% of movements are likely to occur across high-relief locations. Therefore, for the species that we studied, buffer zones designed to conserve only hydrological networks would provide insufficient protection of frequently used pond margins, while drainage lines are unlikely to act as vital networks facilitating connectivity between breeding ponds. Our study suggests that movement across slopes may be most important for facilitating functional connectivity.

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“…Riparian plant communities are not homogeneous within the landscape. Their distribution, structure and abundance show patterns influenced by the biophysical environment at different scales (Gregory et al, 1991;Lyon & Gross, 2005;Goebel et al, 2006;Merrill et al, 2006;Sarr & Hibbs, 2007).…”

Section: Riparian Forestmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Harvey et al (2008) found that bank vegetation complexity is greater for soft rock types, which tend to be more abundant in lowland low energy reaches. The downstream gradient of increasing valley width, increasing stream sinuosity and decreasing stream slope seems to heavily influence the structure of riparian communities (Merrill et al, 2006). The strength of the relationship between physical factors and riparian diversity is not homogeneous between riparian com-munity types, being weaker for shrubs than for trees (Lyon & Gross, 2005).…”

Section: Riparian Forestmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating monitoring, expert knowledge and habitat management within conservation organisations for the delivery of the water framework directive: A proposed approach

Naura

Sear²,

Pe³

2011

Limnetica

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Integrating monitoring, expert knowledge and habitat management within conservation organisations for the delivery of the water framework directive: A proposed approachThere is a growing necessity to better understand the nature of the relationships between environmental attributes and freshwater species/communities to enable meaningful action to take place against the impacts of environmental change in river ecosystems. Such understanding would need to be based on the investigations of causal relationships rather than the study of statistical correlations or the use of expert opinion as is generally the case. Another issue is in identifying the scale(s) at which process and features should be recorded and assessed to enable the design of relevant monitoring programs. In this paper, we present a short review of existing knowledge on species/habitat relationships and discuss the importance of adequate theoretical frameworks for identifying environmental features of importance to wildlife and determining the scale/s at which they should be assessed. We further propose an approach for eliciting those relationships within the context of monitoring and management practice in conservation organisations. We show how conceptual models of habitat-species relationships can be built using existing knowledge and expert opinion and tested on data collected as part of existing monitoring programs. We suggest such framework, if applied, could not only help identify causal relationships between species, features and processes acting at various scales, but also initiate a knowledge acquisition process within organisations responsible for the delivery of the Water Framework Directive.

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Factors Controlling Structural and Floristic Variation of Riparian Zones in a Mountainous Landscape of the Western United States

Cited by 6 publications

References 32 publications

Anticipatory Management for Instream Habitat: Application to Carneros Creek, California

Anticipatory Management for Instream Habitat: Application to Carneros Creek, California

Limited influence of stream networks on the terrestrial movements of three wetland-dependent frog species

Integrating monitoring, expert knowledge and habitat management within conservation organisations for the delivery of the water framework directive: A proposed approach

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