Geomorphic and Ecological Consequences of Riprap Placement in River Systems

Riprap, consisting of large boulders or concrete blocks, is extensively used to stabilize streambanks and to inhibit lateral erosion of rivers, yet its effect on river morphology and its ecological consequences have been relatively little studied. In this paper, we review the available information, most of it culled from the “grey” literature. We use a simple one‐dimensional morphodynamic model as a conceptual tool to illustrate potential morphological effects of riprap placement in a gravel‐bed river, which include inhibition of local sediment supply to the channel and consequent channel bed scour and substrate coarsening, and downstream erosion. Riprap placement also tends to sever organic material input from the riparian zone, with loss of shade, wood input, and input of finer organic material. Available information on the consequences for the aquatic ecosystem mainly concerns effects on commercially and recreationally important fishes. The preponderance of studies report unfavorable effects on local numbers, but habitat niches created by openings in riprap can favorably affect invertebrates and some small fishes. There is a need for much more research on both morphological and ecosystem effects of riprap placement.     

汾河源区不同景观带水文过程研究

目前水源区景观带尺度水文过程机制研究还非常薄弱.针对山西汾河流域水环境恶化,迫切需要解决的水问题.应用同位素示踪、水文地质勘察、水化学信号等研究方法,揭示汾河源区景观带尺度水文过程机制.结果表明,汾河水源区亚高山草甸带与中高山森林带是汾河源区主要径流形成区,而疏林灌丛带与山地草原带在时间上滞后了雨季降水的汇集.源区径流主要由降雨、地下水、积雪和冻土融水混合补给.流域内降水很少直接产生地表径流补给河流,而是经过各景观带下渗,转换成壤中流、孔/裂隙水或地下径流,最终汇入河道,完成"补径排"水文过程.这一研究可为汾河流域水环境恶化的遏制提供科学依据与参考,以期实现山西清水复流和生态环境的全面修复.     

Channel and Perennial Flow Initiation in Headwater Streams: Management Implications of Variability in Source-Area Size

Despite increasing attention to management of headwater streams as sources of water, sediment, and wood to downstream rivers, the extent of headwater channels and perennial flow remain poorly known and inaccurately depicted on topographic maps and in digital hydrographic data. This study reports field mapping of channel head and perennial flow initiation locations in forested landscapes underlain by sandstone and basalt lithologies in Washington State, USA. Contributing source areas were delineated for each feature using a digital elevation model (DEM) as well as a Global Positioning System device in the field. Systematic source area–slope relationships described in other landscapes were not evident for channel heads in either lithology. In addition, substantial variability in DEM-derived source area sizes relative to field-delineated source areas indicates that in this area, identification of an area–slope relationship, should one even exist, would be difficult. However, channel heads and stream heads, here defined as the start of perennial flow, appear to be co-located within both of the lithologies, which together with lateral expansion and contraction of surface water around channel heads on a seasonal cycle in the basalt lithology, suggest a controlling influence of bedrock springs for that location. While management strategies for determining locations of channel heads and perennial flow initiation in comparable areas could assign standard source area sizes based on limited field data collection within that landscape, field-mapped source areas that support perennial flow are much smaller than recognized by current Washington State regulations.     

THE EFFECTS OF MINE ACID ON THE POND RIVER WATERSHED IN WESTERN KENTUCKY1

ABSTRACT: H₂SO₄ (sulfuric acid) is formed by a chemical process that occurs in unreclaimed coal mines. The highly toxic acid then flows into the lower swamp areas where it causes considerable damage to the ecosystem. The major effect of the acid is the mass destruction of thousands of trees and various other phreatophytic plants. The contamination is so serious that most of the wildlife has migrated out of the affected area of the swamp in order to survive. Certain geological features such as coal bearing monadanocks make the area somewhat sensitive to mining activities and related geologic hazards. New methods of mine acid abatement make the concept of mass reclamation more realistic than at any time in the past. The constant annihilation of swamp life and processes emphasizes the urgent need for reclamation of the swamp.     

RHODAMINE WT DYE LOSSES IN A MOUNTAIN STREAM ENVIRONMENT1

ABSTRACT: A significant fraction of rhodamine WT dye was lost during a short term multitracer injection experiment in a mountain stream environment. The conservative anion chloride and the sorbing cation lithium were concurrently injected. In-stream rhodamine WT concentrations were as low as 45 percent of that expected, based on chloride data. Concentration data were available from shallow‘wells’dug near the stream course and from a seep of suspected return flow. Both rhodamine WT dye and lithium were nonconservative with respect to the conservative chloride, with rhodamine WT dye closely following the behavior of the sorbing lithium. Nonsorption and sorption mechanisms for rhodamine WT loss in a mountain stream were evaluated in laboratory experiments. Experiments evaluating nonsorption losses indicated minimal losses by such mechanisms. Laboratory experiments using sand and gravel size streambed sediments show an appreciable capacity for rhodamine WT sorption. The detection of tracers in the shallow wells and seep indicates interaction between the stream and the flow in the surrounding subsurface, intergravel water, system. The injected tracers had ample opportunity for intimate contact with materials shown in the laboratory experiments to be potentially sorptive. It is suggested that in the study stream system, interaction with streambed gravel was a significant mechanism for the attenuation of rhodamine WT dye (relative to chloride).     

INFLUENCES OF A FOREST ON THE HYDRAULIC GEOMETRY OF TWO MOUNTAIN STREAMS1

ABSTRACT The influence of a forest on the formation of steps in two small streams of the Colorado Rocky Mountains was studied. Steps provided by logs fallen across the channel added to flow energy reduction. The streams required additional gravel bars to adjust to slope. Average step length between logs and gravel bars was strongly related to channel gradient and median bed material size. Based on the average number of log steps per 50 feet of channel, an average of 116 percent of gravel bars were added at Fool Creek and 60 percent at Deadhorse Creek. The latter had 52 percent more logs in the channel and therefore required less bed material movement than the former. Although these are “rushing mountain streams,” most flow velocities ranged between 0.5 and 2.5 f.p.s. Exponents of a function relating rate of change of depth or velocity to discharge indicated that dynamic stream equilibrium was attained. Implications for forest management are that sanitation cuts (removal of dead and dying trees) would not be permissible where a stream is in dynamic equilibrium and bed material movement should be minimized.     

NITRATE TRANSFORMATIONS IN SOUTHERN ONTARIO STREAM SEDIMENTS1

The transformation of nitrate was investigated in diverse stream sediments from six areas of Southern Ontario, Canada. Laboratory Experiments conducted with intact 0-5 cm depth sediment cores overlain with aerated 5 mg/l nitrate-N solution reveald considerable nitrate depletion during a six-day period as a resuit of denitrification and nitrate reduction to ammonium. Nitrification and ammonification also occurred simultaneously with nitrate reduction in many stream sediments. Mixed 0-5 cm depth sediments collected from 81 stream sites were used to examine the relationship between microbial nitrate removal and sediment characteristics. Rates of nitrate-N loss from aerated 5 mg/l nitrate-N solutions overlying these sediments ranged between 11 and 171 mg/m²/day for a 24-hour incubation period. Rates of nitrate loss for the 24-hour period exhibited a significant positive correlation (r=0.72) with sediment ammonium content. Organic carbon, total nitrogen and sediment texture also had significant but weak correlations with nitrate loss.     

Impervious Surface Area as a Predictor of the Effects of Urbanization on Stream Insect Communities in Maine, U.S.A.

The influence of urbanization on stream insect communities was determined by comparing physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of streams draining 20 catchments with varyinglevels of urban land-cover in Maine (U.S.A). Percent total impervious surface area (PTIA), which was used to quantify urbanland-use, ranged from 1–31% among the study catchments.Taxonomic richness of stream insect communities showed an abruptdecline as PTIA increased above 6%. Streams draining catchmentswith PTIA < 6% had the highest levels of both total insect and EPT (Ephemeroptera + Plecoptera + Trichoptera) taxonomic richness. These streams contained insect communities with a totalrichness averaging 33 taxa in fall and 31 taxa in spring; EPT richness ranged from an average of 15 taxa in fall and 13 taxa inspring. In contrast, none of the streams draining catchments with6–27% PTIA had a total richness > 18 taxa or an EPT richness> 6 taxa. Insect communities in streams with PTIA > 6% were characterized by the absence of pollution-intolerant taxa. The distribution of more pollution-tolerant taxa (e.g.Acerpenna (Ephemeroptera); Paracapnia, Allocapnia (Plecoptera); Optioservus, Stenelmis (Coleoptera); Hydropsyche, Cheumatopsyche (Trichoptera)), however, showed little relation to PTIA. In contrast to the apparent threshold relationship between PTIA and insect taxonomic richness, both habitat qualityand water quality tended to decline as linear functions of PTIA.Our results indicate that, in Maine, an abrupt change in stream insect community structure occurs at a PTIA above a threshold ofapproximately 6% of total catchment area. The measurement of PTIA may provide a valuable tool for predicting thresholds for adverse effects of urbanization on the health of headwater streams in Maine.     

SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL DYNAMICS OF WOOD IN HEADWATER STREAMS OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST1

This paper synthesizes information on the spatial and temporal dynamics of wood in small streams in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The literature on this topic is somewhat confused due to a lack of an accepted definition of what constitutes “small” streams and what is the relative size of woody debris contained within the channel. This paper presents a matrix that defines woody debris relative to channel size and then discusses the components of a wood budget. Headwater streams are in close proximity to wood sources and, in steeplands, are often tightly constrained by steep hillslopes. Special consideration is given to ecosystem characteristics and to management practices that affect the wood dynamics in this context. Knowledge gaps and uncertainties that can be used to guide future research are identified. Very little is currently known about the role of mass wasting in wood recruitment and storage relative to other processes, such as bank erosion and mortality, in larger streams. Further, very little work has addressed the relative importance of different wood depletion processes, especially those associated with wood transport. The effect of other ecosystem variables on wood dynamics locally across a watershed (from valley bottom to mountaintop) and regionally across the landscape (from maritime to continental climates) is not addressed. Finally, the scientific community has only begun to deal with the effects of management practices on wood quantity, structure, and movement in small streams.     

RIPARIAN COMMUNITIES ASSOCIATED WITH PACIFIC NORTHWEST HEADWATER STREAMS: ASSEMBLAGES,PROCESSES, AND UNIQUENESS1

Riparian areas of large streams provide important habitat to many species and control many instream processes — but is the same true for the margins of small streams? This review considers riparian areas alongside small streams in forested, mountainous areas of the Pacific Northwest and asks if there are fundamental ecological differences from larger streams and from other regions and if there are consequences for management from any differences. In the moist forests along many small streams of the Pacific Northwest, the contrast between the streamside and upslope forest is not as strong as that found in drier regions. Small streams typically lack floodplains, and the riparian area is often constrained by the hillslope. Nevertheless, riparian‐associated organisms, some unique to headwater areas, are found along small streams. Disturbance of hillslopes and stream channels and microclimatic effects of streams on the riparian area provide great heterogeneity in processes and diversity of habitats. The tight coupling of the terrestrial riparian area with the aquatic system results from the closed canopy and high edge‐to‐area ratio for small streams. Riparian areas of the temperate, conifer dominated forests of the Pacific Northwest provide a unique environment. Forest management guidelines for small streams vary widely, and there has been little evaluation of the local or downstream consequences of forest practices along small streams.