Riparian vegetation as an indicator of riparian condition: Detecting departures from historic condition across the North American West

Macfarlane, William W.; Gilbert, Jordan T.; Jensen, Martha L.; Gilbert, Joshua D.; Hough‐Snee, Nate; McHugh, Peter A.; Wheaton, Joseph M.; Bennett, Stephen N.

doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.10.054

Cited by 56 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Despite their critical function, riparian forests have been altered extensively in many temperate river basins (e.g., Macfarlane et al. ), fueling the need for watershed‐scale analyses that identify locations where restoration efforts have the highest potential for affecting change.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Historical and Future Stream Temperature Change Predicted by a Lidar‐Based Assessment of Riparian Condition and Channel Width

Seixas

Beechie

Fogel

et al. 2018

J American Water Resour Assoc

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Riparian forests attenuate solar radiation, thereby mediating an important component of the thermal budget of streams. Here, we investigate the relationship between riparian degradation, stream temperature, and channel width in the Chehalis River Basin, Washington State. We used lidar data to measure canopy opening angle, the angle formed between the channel center and trees on both banks; we assumed historical tree heights and calculated the change in canopy angle relative to historical conditions. We then developed an empirical relationship between canopy angle and water temperature using existing data, and simulated temperatures between 2002 and 2080 by combining a tree growth model with climate change scenarios from the NorWeST regional prediction. The greatest change between historical and current conditions (~7°C) occurred in developed portions of the river network, with the highest values of change predicted at channel widths less than ~40 m. Tree growth lessened climate change increases in maximum temperature and the length of river exceeding biologically critical thresholds by ~50%–60%. Moreover, the maximum temperature of channels with bankfull widths less than ~50 m remained similar to current conditions, despite climate change increases. Our findings are consistent with a possible role for the riparian landscape in explaining the low sensitivity of stream temperatures to air temperatures observed in some small mountain streams.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…basins (e.g., Macfarlane et al 2016), fueling the need for watershed-scale analyses that identify locations where restoration efforts have the highest potential for affecting change.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Historical and Future Stream Temperature Change Predicted by a Lidar‐Based Assessment of Riparian Condition and Channel Width

Seixas

Beechie

Fogel

et al. 2018

J American Water Resour Assoc

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Other similar approaches offer metrics and integrative indices to help design management actions and select sites for restoration (Macfarlane et al, ; Rohde, Hostmann, Peter, & Ewald, ). The integration of such indicators of conservation status obtained at the reach scale could improve the ability of our models to inform about riparian habitat quality (i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…So, there is an increasing interest in completely characterizing riparian forests along entire river networks while defining the main factors that control their spatial patterns (Aguiar, Cerdeira, Martins, & Ferreira, ; Aguiar & Ferreira, ; Douda, ). Nevertheless, studies covering large areas are still scarce (Macfarlane et al, ) and they are based on particular locations instead of continuous riverine landscapes. This might be the consequence of methodological limitations, especially those related to the scarcity of ground truth, validated data and coetaneous spatial predictors of landscape structure, which hamper the production of detailed and continuous maps of riparian vegetation at regional scales (Jeong, Mo, Kim, Park, & Lee, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modelling riparian forest distribution and composition to entire river networks

Pérez‐Silos

Álvarez‐Martínez

Barquín

2019

Applied Vegetation Science

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Aim: Developing a methodology to map the distribution of riparian forests to entire river networks and determining the main environmental factors controlling their spatial patterns. Location: Cantabrian region, northern Spain. Methods: We mapped the riparian forests at a physiognomic and phytosociological level by delimiting riparian zones and generating vegetation distribution models based on remote sensing data (Landsat 8 OLI and LiDAR PNOA). We built virtual watersheds to define a spatial framework where the catchment environmental information can be specified for each river reach, in combination with the vegetation map. In order to determine the drivers that play a significant role in the observed spatial patterns in riparian forests, based on our data sets we modelled interactions between environmental information and riparian vegetation by using the Random Forest algorithm. Results: The modelling results obtained reliably reproduced the variation of riparian forest structure and composition across Cantabrian watersheds. The produced maps were highly accurate, with a more than 70% overall accuracy for forest occurrence. A clear differentiation between Eurosiberian (habitats 91E0 and 9160) and Mediterranean (92E0) riparian forests was shown on both sides of the mountain range. Topography and land use were the main drivers defining the distribution of riparian forest as a physiognomic unit. In turn, altitude, climate and percentage of pasture were the most relevant factors determining their composition (phytosociological approach). Conclusions: Our study confirms that anthropic control ultimately defines the distribution of vegetation in the riparian area at a regional to local scale. Human disturbances constrain the extension of forest patches across their potential distribution defined by topoclimatic boundaries, which establish a clear limit between Mediterranean and Eurosiberian biogeographical regions.

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Smokey the Beaver: beaver‐dammed riparian corridors stay green during wildfire throughout the western United States

Fairfax

Whittle

2020

Ecological Applications

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Beaver dams are gaining popularity as a low-tech, low-cost strategy to build climate resiliency at the landscape scale. They slow and store water that can be accessed by riparian vegetation during dry periods, effectively protecting riparian ecosystems from droughts. Whether or not this protection extends to wildfire has been discussed anecdotally but has not been examined in a scientific context. We used remotely sensed Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data to compare riparian vegetation greenness in areas with and without beaver damming during wildfire. We include data from five large wildfires of varying burn severity and dominant landcover settings in the western United States in our analysis. We found that beaver-dammed riparian corridors are relatively unaffected by wildfire when compared to similar riparian corridors without beaver damming. On average, the decrease in NDVI during fire in areas without beaver is 3.05 times as large as it is in areas with beaver. However, plant greenness rebounded in the year after wildfire regardless of beaver activity. Thus, we conclude that, while beaver activity does not necessarily play a role in riparian vegetation post-fire resilience, it does play a significant role in riparian vegetation fire resistance and refugia creation.

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Riparian vegetation as an indicator of riparian condition: Detecting departures from historic condition across the North American West

Cited by 56 publications

References 68 publications

Historical and Future Stream Temperature Change Predicted by a Lidar‐Based Assessment of Riparian Condition and Channel Width

Historical and Future Stream Temperature Change Predicted by a Lidar‐Based Assessment of Riparian Condition and Channel Width

Modelling riparian forest distribution and composition to entire river networks

Smokey the Beaver: beaver‐dammed riparian corridors stay green during wildfire throughout the western United States

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