Data from: Quantifying flooding regime in floodplain forests to guide river restoration
| Main Authors: | Marks, Christian O., Nislow, Keith H., Magilligan, Francis J. |
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| Format: | info dataset Journal |
| Terbitan: |
, 2015
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: |
https://zenodo.org/record/4983123 |
Daftar Isi:
- Determining the flooding regime needed to support distinctive floodplain forests is essential for effective river conservation under the ubiquitous human alteration of river flows characteristic of the Anthropocene Era. At over 100 sites throughout the Connecticut River basin, the largest river system in New England, we characterized species composition, valley and channel morphology, and hydrologic regime to define conditions promoting distinct floodplain forest assemblages. Species assemblages were dominated by floodplain-associated trees on surfaces experiencing flood durations between 4.5 and 91 days/year, which were generally well below the stage of the two-year recurrence interval flood, a widely-used benchmark for floodplain restoration. These tree species rarely occurred on surfaces that flooded less than 1 day/year. By contrast abundance of most woody invasive species decreased with flooding. Such flood-prone surfaces were jointly determined by characteristics of the hydrograph (high discharges of long duration) and topography (low gradient and reduced valley constraint), resulting in increased availability of floodplain habitat with increasing watershed area and/or decreasing stream gradient. Downstream mainstem reaches provided the most floodplain habitat, largely associated with low-energy features such as back swamps and point bars, and were dominated by silver maple (Acer saccharinum). However, we were able to identify a number of suitable sites in the upper part of the basin and in large tributaries, often associated with in-channel islands and bars and frequently dominated by sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) and flood disturbance-dependent species. Our results imply that restoring flows by modifying dam operations to benefit floodplain forests on existing surfaces need not conflict with flood protection in some regional settings. These results underscore the need to understand how flow, geomorphology, and species traits interact to produce characteristic patterns of floodplain vegetation, and that these interactions should form the basis of effective river restoration and conservation.
- Floodplain transect vegetation and geometry databaseMS Access database that contains all the vegetation and surveying data supporting the associated article. This database also includes information on linking other associated data files such as hydrologic models. Data include floodplain vegetation along belt transects such as tree species and elevations. Flooding regime as calculated by associated models is also summarized in the database.Read first notes on Connecticut River floodplain files.docxdb_CT_River_Floodplain_Vegetation.mdbCalculated river stage history files for transectsThis zip file contains comma delimited files of daily river stage data that were calculated for each floodplain research transect. The corresponding vegetation and elevation data can be found in the associated floodplain database tables.Notes on Connecticut River stage data.docxGIS transect locationsArcGIS and Google Earth files showing Connecticut River floodplain research transect locations. Please note these locations are provided for illustration and use in geographic analyses. Anyone wishing to do on the ground visits or field research at these sites needs to first obtain permission from the relevant landowners.Notes on Connecticut River floodplain research transect locations.docxHEC-RAS hydraulic model filesHEC-RAS hydraulic model files for floodplain forest research sites. The HEC-RAS software is available for free from the US Army Corps HEC at: http://www.hec.usace.army.mil/software/hec-ras/ . Model files were used to compute rating curves for each floodplain research transect as well as stream power and other flow measures.Hobo data logger daily stage dataDaily average river stage data calculated from pressure transducer measurements recorded by a Hobo data logger. Stage elevations are in the same coordinates as the vegetation elevation data in the accompanying database.