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This report provides a multiscale approach for assessing the geomorphic sensitivity of streams and ecological resilience of riparian ecosystems, including meadows, in upland watersheds of the Great Basin to disturbances and management actions. Part I describes the key concepts needed to understand geomorphic sensitivity, ecological resilience, and ecological integrity. The watershed characteristics and components that influence sensitivity and resilience to disturbance are discussed, including the geomorphic characteristics of the stream channels and vegetation characteristics of the riparian ecosystems. A categorization of watershed sensitivity and resilience is provided to evaluate the past and likely future responses of the watersheds to disturbances and determine appropriate management strategies. Part II contains the information and protocols needed to categorize stream reaches and watersheds according to their relative sensitivity and resilience and evaluate their ecological integrity. The assessment involves collecting data on (1) watershed characteristics, (2) stream channel geomorphic and hydrologic characteristics, (3) riparian and meadow ecosystem vegetation characteristics, and (4) disturbance types and magnitudes. The assessments of watershed sensitivity and resilience are intended to provide the basis for prioritizing areas for conservation and restoration activities and determining the most effective strategies. The target audience is managers and stakeholders interested in assessing and adaptively managing Great Basin stream systems and riparian and meadow ecosystems.
This report provides a multiscale approach for assessing the geomorphic sensitivity of streams and ecological resilience of riparian ecosystems, including meadows, in upland watersheds of the Great Basin to disturbances and management actions. Part I describes the key concepts needed to understand geomorphic sensitivity, ecological resilience, and ecological integrity. The watershed characteristics and components that influence sensitivity and resilience to disturbance are discussed, including the geomorphic characteristics of the stream channels and vegetation characteristics of the riparian ecosystems. A categorization of watershed sensitivity and resilience is provided to evaluate the past and likely future responses of the watersheds to disturbances and determine appropriate management strategies. Part II contains the information and protocols needed to categorize stream reaches and watersheds according to their relative sensitivity and resilience and evaluate their ecological integrity. The assessment involves collecting data on (1) watershed characteristics, (2) stream channel geomorphic and hydrologic characteristics, (3) riparian and meadow ecosystem vegetation characteristics, and (4) disturbance types and magnitudes. The assessments of watershed sensitivity and resilience are intended to provide the basis for prioritizing areas for conservation and restoration activities and determining the most effective strategies. The target audience is managers and stakeholders interested in assessing and adaptively managing Great Basin stream systems and riparian and meadow ecosystems.
Established by the USDA Forest Service in 1993, the Great Basin Ecosystem Management Project for Restoring and Maintaining Sustainable Riparian Ecosystems is a large-scale research study that uses an interdisciplinary approach to examine the effects of climate change and human disturbance on riparian areas. Structured as a collaborative effort between management and research, the project focuses on understanding the geomorphic, hydrologic, and biotic processes that underlie riparian structure and function and the interrelated responses of those processes to disturbances, both natural and anthropogenic. Great Basin Riparian Ecosystems, edited by Jeanne C. Chambers and Jerry R. Miller, presents the approach used by the researchers to study and understand riparian areas in the Great Basin region. It summarizes the current state of knowledge about those areas and provides insights into the use of the information generated by the project for the restor-ation and management of riparian ecosystems. Because semi-arid ecosystems like the Great Basin are highly sensitive to climate change, the study considered how key processes are affected by past and present climate. Great Basin Riparian Ecosystems also examines the processes over a continuum of temporal and spatial scales. Great Basin Riparian Ecosystems addresses restoration over a variety of scales and integrates work from multiple disciplines, including riparian ecology, paleoecology, geomorphology, and hydrology. While the focus is on the Great Basin, the general approach is widely applicable, as it describes a promising new strategy for developing restoration and management plans, one based on sound principles derived from attention to natural systems.
Riparian ecosystems supply valuable resources in all landscapes, but especially in semiarid regions such as the Great Basin of the western United States. Over half of Great Basin streams are thought to be in poor ecological condition and further deterioration is of significant concern to stakeholders. A thorough understanding of how physical processes acting at multiple scales work independently and interactively to shape riparian communities is necessary for successful management and restoration. I investigated: 1) geomorphic influences on riparian vegetation pattern at the watershed scale; 2) the ecological significance of process zones, a hydrogeomorphic classification scheme; and 3) relationships between geomorphic characteristics, riparian community distribution, and plant species abundances.
The demand for water resulting from massive population and economic growth in the southwestern U.S. overwhelmed traditional uses of riparian areas. As a consequence, many of these uniquely-structured ecosystems have been altered or destroyed. Within recent years people have become increasingly aware of the many uses and benefits of riparian zones a
Riparian ecosystems often constitute less than one percent of the central Great Basin landscape but provide critical ecosystem services. Shrubs and trees are fundamental components of these riparian ecosystems that can provide stabilization of sediment and resistance to stream down-cutting. This can promotes ground-water recharge and maintenance of elevated water tables. Fluvial processes shape landforms and riparian woody species distribution across those fluvial landforms. In the arid to semi-arid west, riparian woody species are distributed along vertical elevation gradients within stream reaches (i.e., height above and distance from the channel) and along longitudinal elevation gradients within watersheds (i.e., contributing area and local bedrock) according to their life history and ecophysiological traits. Thus, knowledge of the hydrogeomorphic context at both watershed and stream reach scales is essential for understanding woody species establishment and persistence in riparian ecosystems.
Resilience and Riverine Landscapes presents contributed chapters from global experts in Riverine Landscapes, making it the most comprehensive reference available on the topic. The book explores why rivers are ideal landscapes to study resilience and why studying rivers from a resilience perspective is important for our biophysical understanding of these landscapes and for society. The book focuses on the biophysical character of resilience in riverine landscapes, providing an interdisciplinary perspective of the structure, function, and interactions of riverine landscapes and the ecosystems they contain. The editors conclude by proposing a research agenda for the future, emphasizing the need for transdisciplinary research across a range of spatial and temporal scales and research domains. Presents the resilience of rivers with both a theoretical and applied focus Includes case studies from a wide geographical base, allowing for a full range of viewpoints Showcases how resilience is being incorporated into the study and management of riverine landscapes Includes a transdisciplinary focus on riverine landscapes, from theory to applied, and from biophysical to social-ecological systems