Quantitative Approaches to Riparian Restoration in California (USA)
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Quantitative Approaches to Riparian Restoration in California (USA) John C. Stella Dept. of Environmental Science, Policy and Management University of California, Berkeley and Stillwater Sciences [email protected] Restauración de Ríos Seminario Internacional Madrid, 20 Septiembre 2006 Outline 1. Riparian forests in California’s Mediterranean climate zone 2. Historical human impacts to the ecosystem 3. Deciding what to restore--processes or structure? 4. Quantitative approaches to restoring riparian forests -restoring ecological processes efficiently -restoring riparian structure effectively 1 Non-Equilibrium Ecosystems: Multiple Disturbances and Drivers of Change Fire Floods Climate change Landscape modification Sacramento River Length: 615 km Basin area: 70,000 km2) Sacramento River Basin San Joaquin River San Length: 530 km Francisco Basin area: 83,000 km2 Major tributaries: Tuolumne, Merced, Stanislaus Rivers Major California River Systems California Department of Water Resources. 2 Riparian Structure and Pattern Herbaceous cover Cottonwood forest Mixed riparian forest Valley oak forest • High structural complexity • Patchy distribution • Important terrestrial and in-stream habitat (litter, large woody debris, shade) Riparian Vegetation Establishment Processes on Alluvial Rivers RiverRiver channel channel TerraceTerrace FloodplainFloodplain PointPoint bar bar Channel Increasing age migration of vegetation Floodplain Terrace Eroding River Point bar (poplar/willow (valley oak bank channel (gravel & scrub) mixed forest) woodland) 3 Human Impacts in Riparian Zones Floodplain development Habitat fragmentation Channelization and bank stabilization Water Development in California’s Central Valley Major Water Shasta Dam, Projects Sacramento (CA Dept of Water River Resources) California Aqueduct 4 50000 45000 40000 ExchequerExchequer Dam Flow Regime constructed, 1926 35000 Dam, 1926 NewNew Exchequer Dam Modifications constructed, 1967 30000 Dam, 1967 25000 Discharge (cfs) 20000 Reduction in annual 15000 flood magnitude 10000 5000 0 1900 1905 1910 1920 1925 1930 1935 1940 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1996 Year 600 riparian tree establishment /s) 500 3 Reduced flow 400 volume and 300 unimpaired altered timing discharge (m 200 regulated 100 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 n b ar ay n l p Ja Fe M Apr M Ju Ju Aug Se Floodplain Destruction: Gold Dredging, 1900-1950 Merced River Floodplain Vegetated depressions <30 m Image courtesy of Stephen Johnson 5 Ecological Impact: • few remnant forest patches • no seedling establishment • conversion to other vegetation types What Should We Restore in a Disturbance-Dependent Ecosystem? 1. Ecological processes: (e.g., flow variability, sediment transport, channel migration) 2. Habitat structure and pattern (e.g., species composition, canopy configuration, age structure) 6 General Restoration Approach • understand hydrologic dependencies of riparian and aquatic species • model hydrology and stratify floodplain by degree of hydrological connectivity • choose meaningful quantitative metrics for each restoration approach • adapt analyses from other disciplines as necessary San Joaquin River Hydraulic and Topographic Model Seedling Recruitment Processes for Riparian Populus and Salix • Populations limited by seedling recruitment • Short-lived seeds; no seed bank • Reproduction timing coincides with regular spring floods • Seedlings establish in high-flow years 7 Critical Ecological Processes for Seedling Establishment •river flow regime • seed release timing • seedling water stress thresholds ’ Maximum discharge river stage Banks dry during seed release ABOVE BASEFLOW ABOVE Water stress TION VA ELE Successful recruitment Mahoney JM, and Rood SB. 1998. Summer baseflow APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP Wetlands 18:634-645. Seed Release 20 Fremont cottonwood 2002 Goodding's black willow 120 16 Narrow-leaved willow Timing and unimpaired discharge 12 80 Spring Floods 8 40 4 0 0 20 2003 120 16 • Peak seed release 12 80 coincides with 8 40 snowmelt recession 4 0 0 • Annual timing 20 2004 120 influenced by 16 unimpaired discharge (1000 cfs) temperature 12 80 seed release index (open catkins/tree) 8 40 4 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ar r y n l g p ct M Ap Ma Ju Ju Au Se O 8 Modeling Seed Release Timing From Seasonal Heat Sums Fremont cottonwood Goodding's black willow Narrow-leaved willow 120 140 160 180 observedseed release (day of year) 120 140 160 180 predicted seed release (day of year) Seedling Water Stress Experiment • seedlings grown in tanks • 5 water table reduction treatments • measured seedling survival, growth, and physiology 9 100 80 60 40 cohort survival (%) drawdown rate 20 0 cm/d 1 cm/d 3 cm/d 0 6 cm/d 9 cm/d 0 1020304050 Modeling Cohort Survival days since start of drawdown from Empirical Data 100 80 60 40 20 0 Flow Requirements for Successful Recruitment 600 500 3 /s) 400 300 Populus seed release discharge200 (m Salix seed release 100 0 Jan 1 Feb 1 Mar 1 unimpaired Apr 1 regulated proposed May 1 Jun 1 Jul 1 Aug 1 Sep 1 10 Restoring Riparian Habitat Structure on Dredger Tailings dredger slough with patches of riparian vegetation river channel f lo w dredger tailing piles Merced River Riparian Tree Planting Experiment • 4 native species • 3 elevation levels • irrigation (+/-) • survival and growth analysis 11 Predicting Survival in Year 1 from Initial Planting Size (Logistic Regression Models) POFR 1 8 . 0 6 . 0 4 . 0 2 . 0 survival probability 0 6 0 5 0 in t 4 80% chance of ia 0 l h survival for stems e 3 ig 0 >20 mm diameter h t ( c 2 m 0 ) 1 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 initial diameter (mm) Species Survival Differences and Irrigation Effectiveness (Cox Proportional Hazard Models) Irrigated both years Unirrigated in Year 2 0.0 0.2Box 0.4 0.6 elder 0.8 1.0 0 20406080 cohort survival 0.0 0.2Fremont 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 cottonwood 0 20406080 0.0 0.2Oregon 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0ash 0 20406080 weeks since start of experiment 0.0 0.2Valley 0.4 0.6 0.8 oak 1.0 0 20406080 12 Conclusions 1. Restoring non-equilibrium ecosystems requires novel approaches. 2. Choose what to restore: processes and/or habitat structure. 3. Restoring processes efficiently requires understanding key ecological mechanisms. 4. Restoring habitat effectively requires controlled studies to isolate treatment effects from covariate factors. 5. Developing meaningful quantitative metrics is critical. Thank you for your attention! Special thanks: Marta González del Tánago Ministerio de Medio Ambiente Collaborators: John Battles, Dept of ESPM, UC Berkeley Joe McBride, Dept of ESPM, UC Berkeley Matt Kondolf, Dept of LAEP, UC Berkeley Stillwater Sciences, Berkeley CA Funding: CALFED Bay Delta Program National Science Foundation University of California, Berkeley [email protected] 13 Climate change…. a wildcard Expected in California: • More precip falling in winter (rain and rain-on-snow events) •Earlier snowmelt snowmelt initiation (day of year) 20 40 60 80 100 120 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 Question: How much can trees adapt? 14 Pre-settlement Reference State Terrace Valley oak and Bare alluvial bar and Riparian scrub and Cottonwood and mixed forest Valley oak forest grassland mixed forest sparse seedlings mixed willow (mid-successional) (late-successional) (late-successional) (very early-successional) (early-successional) Extreme flood Moderate flood Bankfull flow Baseflow Low flow channel Overflow Active channel channel Terrace Floodplain Bankfull channel Floodplain Terrace Current Conditions Orchards Senescent valley oak Channel with encroachedSenescent cottonwoodRow crops Orchards forest mixed forest forest Extreme flood Moderate flood Bankfull flow Baseflow Low flow channel Active and OverflowAgricultural Bankfull channel channel levee Former floodplain/ Terrace current terrace Current floodplain boundary Former floodplain/current terrace Terrace 15 California rivers and water projects Maps courtesy of California Department of Water Resources. Flow Timing and Magnitude 250 Riparian tree recruitment Unregulated flow period ) -1 200 Regulated flow s 3 150 100 mean monthly discharge (m discharge mean monthly 50 0 OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP 16 Central Valley (SanFriant Joaquin Dam River) 600 DevelopmentWater 3 /s)500 400 300 discharge200 (m recruitment period unimpaired seedling regulated 100 0 Jan 1 Feb 1 Mar 1 Apr 1 May 1 Biologically-important flow Jun 1 Jul 1 Aug 1 600 characteristics Sep 1 500 3 /s) 400 Winter Peak Flows (seedbed preparation) 300 discharge200 (m Spring Snowmelt (germination & early growth) 100 0 Jan 1 Feb 1 Mar 1 Apr 1 Summer Baseflow May 1 (year 1 survival) Jun 1 Jul 1 Aug 1 Sep 1 17 Conceptual Model of Key Ecological Processes Seed release timing Seedling water stress thresholds ‘Recruitment’ box’ Maximum discharge river stage Banks dry during seed release ABOVE BASEFLOW ABOVE Water stress Suitable Site ELEVATION Successful hydrology recruitment Summer baseflow APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP Adapted from: Mahoney JM, and Rood SB. 1998. Streamflow requirements for cottonwood seedling recruitment--an integrative model. Wetlands 18:634-645. Using Degree-Days to Predict Timing • Degree-days are an alternative way to mark development time • Established method in agriculture and pest management • Experimental vs. empirical models • Daily degree-days: Dd = Tm – θ ; • Cumulative degree-day threshold: D* = ∑°Dd 30 Daily Temperature 15 Xθ (base temp) degrees C 0 500 Cumulative Degree-Days 279D* (threshold)D* 0 Apr 1 May 1 Jun 1 Jul 1 Observed development stage 18 Climate change…. a wildcard Expected in California: • More precip falling in winter (rain and rain-on-snow events) •Earlier snowmelt snowmelt initiation (day of year) 20 40 60 80 100 120 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 Question: How much can trees adapt? 19.