Flood wave attenuation by a wetland following a beaver dam failure on a second order boreal stream

Hillman, Graham R.

doi:10.1007/bf03161439

Cited by 59 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Beaver also influence the aquatic ecosystem by increasing DOC concentrations in water (Figures 2 and 3). Similar patterns were observed by Cirmo and Driscoll (1993), and Margolis et al (2001); but Hillman (1998) reported that the organic-debris dams created by a failed dam event served as both sources and sinks for DOC. Kothawala et al (2006) observed significant decline in DOC concentrations within the first of a series of three beaver ponds, and that DOC within waters downstream of the beaver ponds was resistant to further changes in concentration.…”

Section: Water Chemistrysupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Temperature stress caused by dam failure has not been reported by other studies (e.g. (Hillman, 1998;Hillman et al, 2004).…”

Section: Dam Disturbance and Water Temperaturementioning

confidence: 83%

“…Beaver dam failure, followed by water and sediment release, may be a result of many processes (see review in Butler and Malanson, 2005). One of the most important outcomes, apart from flooding, is the sediment movement out of beaver ponds, which has been studied by very few researchers (Hillman, 1998;Hillman et al, 2004). Butler and Malanson (2005) provided a literature review of sedimentation rates (ranging from <1 cm to nearly 40 cm year 1 ) and a sediment volume assessment per beaver pond (ranging from 35 to 6500 m 3 , with the estimated conservative average volume ranging from 200 to 500 m 3 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Downstream effects of beaver ponds on the water quality of New England first‐ and second‐order streams

et al. 2010

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Beaver, as allogenic ecosystem engineers, are capable of extensively altering surrounding habitats resulting in significant effects on stream water quality. This paper presents insight into downstream effects of beaver impoundments (both actively maintained and abandoned by beaver) and accumulated sediments on water quality, especially in protected watersheds serving as a drinking water supply. In a tributary un-inhabited by beaver compared to those with active beaver ponds, we found significantly (p < 0Ð001) lower concentrations of NO 3 -N (respectively: mean (standard error)) without beaver 0Ð11 (0Ð005) mg/l and with beaver 0Ð14 (0Ð002) mg/l), NH 4 -N (0Ð007 (0Ð002) and 0Ð24 (0Ð002) mg/l), dissolved organic carbon (DOC) (3Ð47 (0Ð081) and 8Ð37 (0Ð203) mg/l), chlorophyll (2Ð38 (0Ð066) and 6Ð96 (0Ð203) µg/l), and temperature (16Ð43 (0Ð101) and 19Ð85 (0Ð123)°C), but higher pH (7Ð17 (0Ð02) and 6Ð72 (0Ð022)), PO 4 (0Ð20 (0Ð01) and 0Ð17 (0Ð014) mg/l) concentration, and dissolved oxygen (DO) saturation (100Ð8 (0Ð708) and 67Ð6 (1Ð74)%). Within the beaver ponds, we observed a high abundance of predatory zooplankton, which help to control algae and feed on detritus within the pond ecosystem. We intentionally breached an abandoned beaver dam in the field and conducted a sediment resuspension experiment in the laboratory to assess the potential for increases in turbidity and nutrients from beaver pond sediments as would be expected in the event of a catastrophic dam breach. We found that abandoned beaver ponds have a stronger influence on downstream water quality than actively maintained ponds owing to higher turbidity with finer sediments and sharply increased stream water temperature during a dam failure.

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Section: Water Chemistrysupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Temperature stress caused by dam failure has not been reported by other studies (e.g. (Hillman, 1998;Hillman et al, 2004).…”

Section: Dam Disturbance and Water Temperaturementioning

confidence: 83%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Downstream effects of beaver ponds on the water quality of New England first‐ and second‐order streams

et al. 2010

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“…Soil moisture deficits during dry years in boreal forested peatlands can have a significant impact on the magnitude of the subsequent spring flood peaks (e.g. Woo and Young 1998;Hillman 1998). However, the ability of many upland wetlands to store incoming fresh rainwater has been found to be limited.…”

Section: How Upland Rain-fed Wetlands Relate To Flood Generation Procmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While there are clear examples of the flood reduction services of many wetlands (e.g. Verry and Boelter 1975;Novitski 1978;Bedinger 1981;Hillman 1998), Bullock and Acreman (2003) reported only limited support for the generalised model of flood control by wetlands. They found that around 80 % of relevant studies suggested floodplain wetlands reduced flooding, but they also found that 41 % of studies on headwater wetlands indicated that those wetlands enhanced flooding.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Wetlands Affect Floods

2013

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It is widely recognised that wetlands play an important role in the hydrological cycle, influencing groundwater recharge, low flows, evaporation and floods. This has led to policies being formulated world-wide to conserve and manage wetlands to deliver these key services, especially flood risk reduction. Generic statements have often been published about wetland hydrological services but the term "wetlands" covers many land types, including wet woodlands, reedbeds, peat bogs, fens, and salt marshes. Each of these wetland types can have a hydrological function that is subtly different, making it difficult to generalise the flood reduction services of wetlands. In this paper we focus on two example wetland types (upland rain-fed wetlands and floodplain wetlands) to demonstrate why there are differences in flood functions both within and between wetland types. Upland wetlands generally tend to be flood generating areas while floodplain wetlands have a greater potential to reduce floods.2 However, landscape location and configuration, soil characteristics, topography, soil moisture status and management all influence whether these wetlands provide flood reduction services.

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Advances in Canadian wetland hydrology an biogeochemistry

Price

Waddington

2000

Hydrological Processes

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Flood wave attenuation by a wetland following a beaver dam failure on a second order boreal stream

Cited by 59 publications

References 17 publications

Downstream effects of beaver ponds on the water quality of New England first‐ and second‐order streams

Downstream effects of beaver ponds on the water quality of New England first‐ and second‐order streams

How Wetlands Affect Floods

Advances in Canadian wetland hydrology an biogeochemistry

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