Downstream effects of dams on channel geometry and bottomland vegetation: Regional patterns in the Great Plains

被引:193
作者
Friedman J.M. [1 ]
Osterkamp W.R. [2 ]
Scott M.L. [1 ]
Auble G.T. [1 ]
机构
[1] U.S. Geological Survey, Midcontinent Ecol. Science Center, Fort Collins, CO 80525
[2] U.S. Geological Survey, Tucson, AZ 85745
关键词
Channel geometry; Cottonwood; Dam; Forest; Great Plains; Riparian; Sediment;
D O I
10.1007/BF03161677
中图分类号
学科分类号
摘要
The response of rivers and riparian forests to upstream dams shows a regional pattern related to physiographic and climatic factors that influence channel geometry. We carried out a spatial analysis of the response of channel geometry to 35 dams in the Great Plains and Central Lowlands, USA. The principal response of a braided channel to an upstream dam is channel-narrowing, and the principal response of a meandering channel is a reduction in channel migration rate. Prior to water management, braided channels were most common in the southwestern Plains where sand is abundant, whereas meandering channels were most common in the northern and eastern Plains. The dominant response to upstream dams has been channel-narrowing in the southwestern Plains (e.g., six of nine cases in the High Plains) and reduction in migration rate in the north and east (e.g., all of twelve cases in the Missouri Plateau and Western Lake Regions). Channel-narrowing is associated with a burst of establishment of native and exotic woody riparian pioneer species on the former channel bed. In contrast, reduction in channel migration rate is associated with a decrease in reproduction of woody riparian pioneers. Thus, riparian pioneer forests along large rivers in the southwestern Plains have temporarily increased following dam construction while such forests in the north and east have decreased. These patterns explain apparent contradictions in conclusions of studies that focused on single rivers or small regions and provide a framework for predicting effects of dams on large rivers in the Great Plains and elsewhere. These conclusions are valid only for large rivers. A spatial analysis of channel width along 286 streams ranging in mean annual discharge from 0.004 to 1370 cubic meters per second did not produce the same clear regional pattern, in part because the channel geometries of small and large streams are affected differently by a sandy watershed.
引用
收藏
页码:619 / 633
页数:14
相关论文
共 93 条
[1]  
Akashi Y., Riparian Vegetation Dynamics Along the Bighorn River, Wyoming, (1988)
[2]  
Albertson F.W., Weaver J.E., Injury and death or recovery of trees in prairie climate, Ecological Monographs, 15, pp. 395-433, (1945)
[3]  
Anderson B.W., Man's influence on hybridization in two avian species in South Dakota, Condor, 73, pp. 342-347, (1971)
[4]  
Auble G.T., Scott M.L., Fluvial disturbance patches and cottonwood recruitment along the upper Missouri River, Montana, Wetlands, 18, pp. 546-556, (1998)
[5]  
Bergman D.L., Sullivan C.W., Channel changes on Sandstone Creek near Cheyenne, Oklahoma, U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 475-C, (1963)
[6]  
Bradley C.E., Smith D.G., Meandering channel response to altered flow regime: Milk River, Alberta and Montana, Water Resources Research, 20, pp. 1913-1920, (1984)
[7]  
Bradley C.E., Smith D.G., Plains cottonwood recruitment and survival on a prairie meandering river floodplain, Milk River, southern Alberta and northern Montana, Canadian Journal of Botany, 64, pp. 1433-1442, (1986)
[8]  
Bragg T.B., Tatschl A.K., Changes in flood-plain vegetation and land use along the Missouri River from 1826 to 1972, Environmental Management, 1, pp. 343-348, (1977)
[9]  
Brinson M.M., Swift B.L., Plantico R.C., Barclay J.S., Riparian Ecosystems: Their Ecology and Status, (1981)
[10]  
Brock J.H., Tamarix spp. (Salt Cedar), an invasive exotic woody plant in arid and semi-arid riparian habitats of western USA, Ecology and Management of Invasive Riverside Plants, pp. 27-44, (1994)