A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Studies of Riparian Vegetation Along Peace River, British Columbia
Abstract: A field study of vegetation on islands and bars in the floodplain of regulated Peace River was initiated in June 1981. Data were collected from 18 plots and one transect, located above and below the Pine River confluence, during four visits in the ensuing 17 years, to monitor changes that might be related to the altered river regime. Reach‐wide maps of vegetation communites, derived photogrammetrically from air photos taken at six dates between 1953 and 2006, extend the field data.
Thirteen cover types mapped from 1977 false‐color infrared imagery were ground checked in 1981. From these data, relations between the hydrogeomorphology of Peace River and the riparian vegetation were established. A model of “normal succession” was developed in order to discriminate successional changes from changes that could be ascribed to natural fluvial processes and to regulation. Analyses of air photos flown since the 1950s provide time sequences that allow the model to be tested. The photo and field evidence show that the replacement of early summer flooding by winter high water has largely arrested riparian succession because colonization of low sites and shrub community succession are held up by winter inundation. Meanwhile forests on the former floodplain are opening up as cottonwoods die early due to the low summer water table and the cessation of floodplain sedimentation. The maps and the sequence of transition frequencies amongst vegetation communities support the normal succession model but indicate a long period of transient adjustment: after 40 years of regulated flows, riparian vegetation remains a palimpsest established by strong fluvial control.
Studies of Riparian Vegetation Along Peace River, British Columbia
Abstract: A field study of vegetation on islands and bars in the floodplain of regulated Peace River was initiated in June 1981. Data were collected from 18 plots and one transect, located above and below the Pine River confluence, during four visits in the ensuing 17 years, to monitor changes that might be related to the altered river regime. Reach‐wide maps of vegetation communites, derived photogrammetrically from air photos taken at six dates between 1953 and 2006, extend the field data.
Thirteen cover types mapped from 1977 false‐color infrared imagery were ground checked in 1981. From these data, relations between the hydrogeomorphology of Peace River and the riparian vegetation were established. A model of “normal succession” was developed in order to discriminate successional changes from changes that could be ascribed to natural fluvial processes and to regulation. Analyses of air photos flown since the 1950s provide time sequences that allow the model to be tested. The photo and field evidence show that the replacement of early summer flooding by winter high water has largely arrested riparian succession because colonization of low sites and shrub community succession are held up by winter inundation. Meanwhile forests on the former floodplain are opening up as cottonwoods die early due to the low summer water table and the cessation of floodplain sedimentation. The maps and the sequence of transition frequencies amongst vegetation communities support the normal succession model but indicate a long period of transient adjustment: after 40 years of regulated flows, riparian vegetation remains a palimpsest established by strong fluvial control.
Studies of Riparian Vegetation Along Peace River, British Columbia
Church, Michael (editor) / North, Margaret E. A. (author) / Church, Michael (author)
The Regulation of Peace River ; 175-207
2014-12-03
33 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
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