Development
Research
- Colorado Water Science Center
- Global Climate Change
- Restoration & Ecologically Designed Riverine Systems
- Understanding Biophysical Relationships—Anthropogenic Changes and Management Actions
- Understanding Biophysical Relationships—Basin and Regional Scales
- Understanding Biophysical Relationships—Biological Response Variables
- Understanding Biophysical Relationships—Biotic-Abiotic Interactions
- Understanding Biophysical Relationships—Flow and Riparian Vegetation
- Understanding Biophysical Relationships—Hydraulic Models, Physical Variables
Also @ FORT
Research: Understanding Biophysical Relationships—Biotic-Abiotic Interactions
Effective river management depends on understanding the relations between variables—both the expected responses to alternative management actions and the management actions required to produce a desired objective. Describing and quantifying these relations improve the foundation on which river management decisions are made.
An important long-term focus of riverine science at FORT is on connections between physical and biological factors, processes, and effects. In recent work, FORT scientists have addressed more biotic interactions and reciprocal influences of biota on the physical environment (e.g., competition, riparian herbivory, hydraulic effects of riparian vegetation, invasive species). The following publications are examples of this work:
Andersen, D.C. 2005. Characterizing flow regimes for floodplain forest conservation: an assessment of factors affecting sapling growth and survivorship on three cold desert rivers. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 35:2886-2899.
Andersen, D.C., and D.J. Cooper. 2000. Plant-herbivore-hydroperiod interactions: Effects of native mammals on floodplain tree recruitment. Ecological Applications 10(5): 1384-1399.
Baker, B.W., H.C. Ducharme, D.C.S. Mitchell, T.R. Stanley, and H.R. Peinetti. 2005. Interaction of beaver and elk herbivory reduces standing crop of willow. Ecological Applications 15(1): 110-118.
Bartholow, J.M. 2000. Estimating cumulative effects of clearcutting on stream temperatures. Rivers 7(4): 284-297.
Cade, B.S., J.W. Terrell, and R.L. Schroeder. 1999. Estimating effects of limiting factors with regression quantiles. Ecology 80(1): 311-3.
Cade, B.S., J.W. Terrell, and M.T. Porath. 2008. Estimating fish body condition with quantile regression. North American Journal of Fisheries Management 28: 349-359.
Carpenter, J. 2005. Competition for food between an introduced crayfish and two fishes endemic to the Colorado River basin. Environmental Biology of Fishes 72(3): 335-342.
Carpenter, J. and G.A. Mueller. 2008. Small nonnative fishes as predators of larval razorback suckers. The Southwestern Naturalist 53(2): 236-242.
Friedman, J.M., K.R. Vincent, and P.B. Shafroth. 2005. Dating floodplain sediments using tree-ring response to burial. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 30: 1077-1091.
Hanson, L., S.C. Williamson, T.J. Waddle, C. Talbert, and J.E. Heasley. 2008. Smart River GIS for improved decision making. USGS Web resource.
Mueller, G.A., J. Carpenter, R. Krapfel, and C. Figiel. 2007. Preliminary testing of the role of exercise and predator recognition for bonytail and razorback sucker: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2007-1423. 37 p.
Nelson, S.M., and D.C. Andersen. 2007. Variable role of aquatic macroinvertebrates in initial breakdown of seasonal leaf litter inputs to a cold-desert river. Southwestern Naturalist 52(2): 219-228.
Singer, F.J., L.C. Mack, and R.C. Cates. 1994. Ungulate herbivory of willows on Yellowstone's northern winter range. Journal of Range Management 47(6): 435-443.
Stanley, T.R., and F.L. Knopf. 2002. Avian responses to late-season grazing in a shrub-willow floodplain. Conservation Biology 16(1): 225-231.
Vincent, Kirk R., Jonathan M. Friedman, and Eleanor R. Griffin. 2009. Erosional consequence of saltcedar control. Environmental Management, doi:10.1007/s00267-009-9314-8, published online 23 June 2009.
Westbrook, C.J., D.J. Cooper and B.W. Baker. 2006. Beaver dams and overbank floods influence groundwater-surface water interactions of a Rocky Mountain riparian area. Water Resources Research 42(6): W06404.1.
Zeigenfuss, L.C., F.J. Singer, S.A. Williams, and T.L. Johnson. 2002. Influences of herbivory and water on willow in elk winter range. Journal of Wildlife Management 66(3): 788-795.
Staff
Andersen, Doug (riparian vegetation, streamflow)
Cade, Brian (statistics, modeling/DSS)
Haegele, Jeanette (Carpenter) (endangered fish, fish habitat, invasive species)
Friedman, Jonathan (riparian vegetation, floodplains)
Hanson, Leanne (aquatic ecology, modeling/DSS)
Shafroth, Pat (riparian vegetation, dam removal, streamflow)
Terrell, Jim (RETIRED; engineered river channels; fish body condition, habitat, and disease)
Zeigenfuss, Linda (herbivore-ecosystem interactions)
Current Studies
- Colorado River Basin Riparian Ecology
- Erosional Consequence of Tamarisk Removal
- Global Change: Riparian Exotic Species
- Implementation of a Monitoring Plan for Vegetation Responses to New Elk Management in Rocky Mountain National Park
- Interactions between Native and Non-native Aquatic Species in the Southwestern United States
- Quantitative and Statistical Research Collaboration
- Modeling the Importance of Native vs. Invasive Vegetation Dominance for Neotropical Migratory Bird Use of Western Riparian Habitats
- Native Fish Sanctuary Evaluation
- Natural Resource Preservation Program: Population Survey Methods and Spatial and Temporal Use of Park Winter Range by Elk for Adaptive Management to Enhance Wildlife Viewing
- Streamflow-Vegetation Relations to Evaluate Flow Regimes
- Water Management Studies
