Landscape-scale processes influence riparian plant composition along a regulated river

Palmquist, Emily C.; Ralston, Barbara E.; Merritt, David M.; Shafroth, Patrick B.

doi:10.1016/j.jaridenv.2017.10.001

Cited by 27 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Any use of trade, firm or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Data generated during this study are available from the USGS ScienceBase‐Catalog (Palmquist, Ralston, Merritt, & Shafroth, ).…”

Section: Acknowledgementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrological regime and climate interactively shape riparian vegetation composition along the Colorado River, Grand Canyon

Butterfield

Palmquist

Ralston

2018

Applied Vegetation Science

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Questions: How closely do riparian plant communities track hydrological and climatic variation in space, and how do interactions among hydrological and climatic filters influence success of flow management strategies? Location: Grand Canyon, Arizona, USA. Methods:Multi-year vegetation surveys were conducted across three hydrological zones-active channel, active flood-plain and inactive flood-plain-within each of 42 sandbars that vary geographically in temperature and precipitation along a 400-km river segment. Ecological niche models were used to estimate locally optimal conditions of maximum inundation duration, elevation above daily peak flow, mean annual precipitation and mean maximum and minimum temperature for 16 of the most abundant woody and 58 of the most abundant herbaceous plant species. These estimates were used to calculate CWM environmental preferences, which were used to determine how closely vegetation preferences tracked local variation in environmental factors, and to assess interactive responses of species and communities to variation in hydrology and climate.Results: Communities closely tracked hydrological variation across zones, but less so within zones. Communities tracked variation in minimum temperature more closely than maximum temperature or precipitation. At the species level, woody plants that were more abundant in wetter hydrological conditions were also more abundant in wetter climatic conditions, and vice versa. This relationship was even stronger at the community level, where there were significant negative relationships between CWM preferences of inundation duration and temperature for both woody and herbaceous vegetation. Conclusions:The climate-hydrology linkages found in this system suggest that increasing temperatures and drought are likely to reduce the inundation tolerance of riparian vegetation within the Grand Canyon. Increasing the duration of high-flow events would likely reduce the abundance of encroaching woody vegetation but could also reduce the resilience of remaining vegetation to heatwaves and drought.The reinforcing effects of climatic and hydrological filters are likely to generally result in greater sensitivity of species composition to environmental change than if those environmental filters acted independently. These results have implications for

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Section: Acknowledgementsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hydrological regime and climate interactively shape riparian vegetation composition along the Colorado River, Grand Canyon

Butterfield

Palmquist

Ralston

2018

Applied Vegetation Science

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“…At the same time, recent studies suggest that these ecosystems are among the most sensitive of all ecosystems to the effect of both natural and anthropogenic disturbances (Feld et al, 2018; Fu et al, 2016). Principally, the sedimentary processes and hydrologic regimes determine the habitat distribution of these ecosystems, and local and landscape‐scale perturbations reset riparian vegetation communities at different spatial scales (Palmquist, Ralston, Merritt, & Shafroth, 2018; Sanjaya & Asaeda, 2017a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The long‐term legacy of riparian vegetation in a hydrogeomorphologically remodelled fluvial setting

Nallaperuma

Asaeda

2020

River Research & Apps

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The typical Japanese river maintains a vegetation-suppressive effect on riparian habitats. During recent decades, most Japanese rivers have encountered extensive human-induced alterations, and over time, the rivers have been transformed from unvegetated to vegetated. The lower Tedori River, which is a representative case of this phenomenon, is located in a region that exhibits signs of global climate change. According to quantitative analyses of sediment, the river corridor has historically reached an equilibrium since the prohibition of heavy sediment extraction activities, and the water discharge is stable because of dams. The contemporaneous vegetation encroachment was observed in a historical imagery survey and the vegetation dynamics of the river reach for the past 18 years were analysed to identify forcing hydro-climatic variables. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was adopted for the surveillance of vegetation dynamics, and multiple regression analysis was employed to evaluate its relationship with predictor variables. River water level was the strongest determinant of NDVI, with both Pearson correlation and standardized β coefficients of −0.405, while air temperature was next, with values of 0.363 and 0.288, respectively. These findings were supported by the spatial distribution of temporally advancing vegetation patches determined using the aerial imagery and pixel value maxima of NDVI bands. In addition, the development of vegetation patches will presumably give rise to more pro-vegetation surroundings in the riparian zone through reciprocal linkages with hydrogeomorphic processes. These objective predictions may help inform the proactive planning for river and coastal management.

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“…), and common reed ( Phragmites australis ), as well as non‐native species such as tamarisk ( Tamarix spp.) (Palmquist, Ralston, Merritt, & Shafroth, ; Ralston, ; Ralston et al, ). Tamarisk mortality is now beginning to occur in much of the river corridor as a result of defoliation associated with the spread of the recently introduced tamarisk leaf beetle (Bedford, Sankey, Sankey, Durning, & Ralston, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying geomorphic and vegetation change at sandbar campsites in response to flow regulation and controlled floods, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Hadley

Grams

Kaplinski

2018

River Research & Apps

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Sandbars along the Colorado River in Grand Canyon National Park, USA, are an important recreational resource used as campsites by over 25,000 river runners and hikers annually. The number and size of campsites decreased following the completion of Glen Canyon Dam in 1963 due to reductions of sediment that replenish sandbars and increases in vegetation cover caused by flow regulation. Campsite area continues to decrease despite the use of controlled floods to rebuild sandbars. We quantify the relative magnitude of factors that contribute to changes in campsite size, such as fluvial deposition and erosion, gullying, and vegetation expansion with analysis of four-band aerial imagery and digital elevation models. Campsite area declined by 37% between 2002 and 2016 (an average of 161 m 2 per site at long-term monitoring sites). Two drivers contributed to campsite area change: (a) short-term gains and losses associated with controlled floods and flood-deposit erosion and (b) long-term one-directional loss of campsite area caused by vegetation encroachment. There was more erosion and slope change at sites in critical reaches-sections of river where campsites are infrequent or in high demand-than in noncritical reaches. Vegetation continues to expand at campsites under flow regulation, particularly in noncritical reaches. Although controlled floods have contributed to short-term increases in sandbar size, long-term increases in campsite area have not occurred because of sandbar erosion between controlled floods and vegetation expansion. Manual vegetation removal may need to be considered in future management strategies.

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Landscape-scale processes influence riparian plant composition along a regulated river

Cited by 27 publications

References 34 publications

Hydrological regime and climate interactively shape riparian vegetation composition along the Colorado River, Grand Canyon

Hydrological regime and climate interactively shape riparian vegetation composition along the Colorado River, Grand Canyon

The long‐term legacy of riparian vegetation in a hydrogeomorphologically remodelled fluvial setting

Quantifying geomorphic and vegetation change at sandbar campsites in response to flow regulation and controlled floods, Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

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