One of the primary concerns associated with timber harvesting is the production of sediments from stream crossings. While research has shown that using improved haul road crossings can mitigate sediment production in perennial streams compared to the use of unimproved crossings little research has been undertaken on temporary skidder crossings of headwater streams, a situation common to a significant percentage of ground skidding operations. This experiment consisted of a controlled replicated testing of the effectiveness of four types of temporary skidder stream crossings (unimproved ford, corrugated culvert, wood panel skidder bridge, and PVC pipe bundle) relative to bedload and suspended sediment production. Automated samplers were used to monitor sediment and bedload production during the construction, use, removal, and post-removal phases associated with the use of these temporary crossings. Results showed that elevated crossings mitigated total sediment production compared to unimproved fords. Further, wood panel bridges yielded lower amounts of sediment than culverts but PVC pipe bundles show no difference between bridges or culverts. Sediment production varied by crossing type and use phase. While no differences were found among crossings types during construction, there was a difference between improved crossings and fords during use. Further, bridges and PVC pipe bundle crossings produced significantly less sediments than culverts during both their removal and during post-removal sampling and fords produced the largest amount of sediments during these phases.

Dynamic expansions and contractions of stream networks can play an important role for hydrologic processes as they can connect different parts of the landscape to the stream channels. However, we know little about the temporal and spatial variations of stream networks during different flow and wetness conditions. This study focuses on the contraction and expansion of stream networks during different flow conditions in the boreal Krycklan catchment, located in Northern Sweden. The stream network and initiation points were extracted from a gridded digital elevation model (DEM) of 5-meter resolution, and then compared with the stream network initiation points (heads) observed during the spring flood (freshet) period in 2012. From the results of the study, it was clearly seen that the observed stream heads and the stream heads appearing in the stream network map extracted from DEM did not agree very well. 49% of the total observed stream heads (49) fell onto the low order stream branches and headwater streams derived from the DEM. Only few of them exactly matched the modeled stream heads. Moreover, the modeled stream network was much denser than the observed stream network, and so the simple raster based dynamic model developed could not well represent the dynamic stream network extension in the real system. Most headwater streams in the study catchment were man-made ditches, which were dug to drain water wetlands and to increase forest productivity. The majority of observed stream heads were formed by seepage from the saturated surrounding soils, while only a few of them were formed by saturation overland flow.  On the other hand, the dynamic stream network derived from the DEM suggested that the number of streams of lower order and their lengths was sensitive to change in streamflow, especially during the high flow episode.

As the demand for freshwater resources increases due to increasing human populations, degradation of available resources, and climatic changes it will become increasingly important to understand the factors that impact the physicochemical characteristics of surface water resources over space and time. This study assessed a headwater stream over the course of a year in the San Bernardino National Forest that serves as both surface and groundwater resources for the Santa Ana River Watershed region, the largest and most populated watershed in Southern California. Streams were monitored bi-weekly during dry periods and weekly during wet periods from April 2018 through April 2019 for dissolved oxygen (DO), flow rate, temperature, conductivity, turbidity, pH, nitrate (NO3-), and ammonium (NH4+) with additional lab assessments for total dissolved solids (TDS), E. Coli (EC), and total coliform (TC). Findings illustrated that across the study sites NO3-, NH4+, and TDS exceeded federal and regional water quality standards for a majority of the sampling events (>60 percent). Additionally, NO3-, DO, and flow rates were elevated in the wet season, while conductivity, NH4+, TDS, pH, TC, and EC were elevated during the dry season.

Inland waters are important systems for transforming, storing and transporting carbon along the aquatic continuum, but also by emitting carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) to the atmosphere. In light of the last decades observed increase in dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in many inland waters across the northern hemisphere, a logical question arise whether other aquatic carbon species display similar trends. This study examined the measured concentrations of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) in a boreal catchment over a 14-year period. The objectives were to determine changes in DIC concentration over time and try to explain the causes for the observed changes. Data from 15 mostly forested sub-catchments were analyzed, both over the full time period, and grouped by season. Over the full 14-year period, only two of the sites exhibited significant trends in DIC concentration, both being negative. However, by seasonally grouping the data distinct patterns for the different seasons emerged. The autumn and winter data displayed no significant trends, whereas the spring flood data showed significant negative trends for almost all sites (14 out of 15). The summer data showed significant negative trends for seven sites, and positive for one site. The DIC concentration data were expectedly positively correlated with pH across most sites (13 out of 15). The correlation with DOC was negative for most sites (11 out of 15), possibly indicating different origins of the different carbon species. The DIC concentration was also negatively correlated with discharge for most sites (13 out of 15), suggesting a diluting effect with increased discharge. In conclusion, significant negative trends were observed during the spring flood and summer periods. Although the cause of these trends will require further investigation, the correlation analysis showed that the DIC concentration was closely related to the catchment hydrology. This suggests changes in terrestrial source areas where DIC is mobilized during spring and summer, and that these changes might continue during altered hydrometeorological conditions. The differences in DIC trends between sub-catchments further show the variability of the boreal landscape and highlight the need for local-scale process understanding when scaling to larger landscape units. We further conclude that trends in DIC concentration do not follow observed DOC changes over time, suggesting that DIC and DOC exports are mechanistically decoupled.

Master of Arts / Department of Geography / Melinda Daniels / Large woody debris, (LWD), defined as pieces measuring ≥ 1 meter in length and ≥ 10 centimeters in diameter (Swanson and Lienkaemper, 1978; Marston, 1982) is an influential stream component. Once stable LWD obstructs streamflow and regulates key processes, causing increases in storage capacity, scouring, and variations to the bed, the extent contingent upon LWD’s average length of residence time within a system. Several North American studies have acknowledged the effects of interactions between wood, sediment, and flow regimes (Bilby, 1981; Keller, E.A., and Swanson, F.J., 1979; Montgomery et al., 1995; Wohl, E., 2008), linking the triad to geomorphic changes, the redistribution of bed materials, and ecological benefits. A consensual baseline reference for LWD’s function over time does not exist however, partly due to previous research being primarily conducted in the Northeast and Pacific Northwest regions where historic actions of humans, particularly riparian logging and stream clearing, have greatly impacted the condition of the watersheds. Researchers having long-overlooked the Great Plains and other regions not commonly associated with woody vegetation has increased the ambiguity regarding the transferability of LWD findings between regions. By shifting the focus to a non-forested region, the goal of this thesis is to measure the dynamics and influence of a prairie stream’s wood load on sediment storage and bed morphology. The Kings Creek network study area is located on the Konza Prairie Biological Station in northeastern Kansas, and drains one of few remaining unaltered North American watersheds. Results document the ongoing forest expansion into the surrounding pristine grassland, and provide a temporal context of the regions changing climate representative of atypical stream conditions caused by drought. In total, 406 individual pieces of wood were measured. The wood load was lower than most forest streams referenced (13.05 m[superscript]³/100 m), though higher than expected resulting from the absence of streamflow. LWD stored 108 m[superscript]³ of sediment within the channel, and the cumulative volume of LWD-formed pools was 169 m[superscript]³. Additionally, statistical analysis showed longitudinal bed variations to be strongly associated to LWD abundance, further indicating that LWD influences prairie stream processes similarly to those in a forest stream.

"The Tennessee Valley Authority is a world example of the full development of a river basin in soil conservation, flood control, navigation, electric power, afforestation, and recreation... Many river basin areas in the United States have created planning commissions to further develop the advancement of their own watershed problems. The Trinity Improvement Association is the planning commission for the Trinity River watershed area... In Chapter II a factual resume of the Tennessee Valley Authority will be given, and this chapter will be used as a basis of comparison for the development of the Trinity River Basin. Chapter III covers the problem of soil conservation and flood control within the watershed area; Chapter IV deals with the industrial and municipal use of water and the resources of the tributary area; Chapter V contains a brief history of the canal movement on the Trinity, the feasibility of such a canal, and miscellaneous developments; and Chapter VI contains the conclusions that it seems appropriate to draw. " -- leaf 1.

In boreal catchments, stream water chemistry is influenced and controlled by several landscape factors. The influence of spatially distributed variables is in turn dependent on the hydrological scale. Headwater streams have larger variability of water chemistry, and thus together represent a large biodiversity, and therefore need to be monitored in official environmental assessments. One objective of this study was, using Geographical Information Systems (GIS), to analyse co-variation between landscape variables and water chemistry and to determine which of the landscape variables have a major influence on the concentration of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in headwater streams. Another objective was to find a simple method for predicting sources of DOC, using official map data and publically available GIS applications. Totally 85 headwater catchments (0.1-4 km2) in the county of Värmland, western south Sweden, were used in the study. Water chemistry was analysed for water sampled at low, medium and high flows, and landscape variables were extracted from official map data sources: topographic maps, a digital elevation model (DEM, 50 m grid), and vegetation data. Statistical analyses showed that topography (mean slope and mean topographic wetness index (TWI)) and wetland cover often correlated well with DOC in headwater catchments. Official map data could satisfactorily extract landscape variables (mean slope, mean TWI) that were useful in predicting stream water chemistry (DOC). A high-resolution elevation model, which was generated by interpolation of photogrammetric data, was used to calculate and evaluate two different wetness indices and their ability to predict the occurrence of wetlands in six catchments of different sizes and topography. The SAGA (System for Automated Geoscientific Analyses) wetness index (SWI) gave substantially better results than the TWI. The effects of resolution of DEMs on calculations of the SWI were investigated using 5, 10, 25 and 50 m grids. The results showed that SWI values increased with increasing cell size. The near linear increment of mean values for resolutions 10-50 m suggests a independence of terrain type and catchment size, which supported previous findings that indicated that mean slope and mean wetness index calculated from coarse elevation models may be used for prediction of DOC in headwater streams.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:35:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-06-02Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:46:50Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 souza_up_dr_rcla.pdf: 976950 bytes, checksum: b3702264109c8e9210e947b1e4df6b90 (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O objetivo geral do presente estudo foi analisar a biologia e o ciclo de vida de Astyanax cf. scabripinnis paranae no ribeirão Grande, um riacho de cabeceira localizado no Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar (PESM), Núcleo Santa Virgínia, SP. Os exemplares foram coletados mensalmente de janeiro a dezembro em 2004 e 2006, utilizando-se redes de espera, redinha de mão e covo. Foram coletados dados de temperatura da água, oxigênio dissolvido e pH. Dados de pluviosidade, umidade relativa e temperatura do ar foram obtidos junto à Estação Meteorológica do PESM. Os peixes foram fixados em formalina a 10% e conservados em álcool 70%. No laboratório foram mensurados quanto ao comprimento total e padrão, peso e registrados os graus de repleção estomacal, de gordura acumulada, o sexo e os estádios de maturação gonadal. As correlações entre as variáveis ambientais e os meses de coletas foram verificadas por uma análise de componentes principais, que indicou uma separação entre períodos mais chuvosos (outubro a abril) e menos chuvosos (maio a setembro). A dieta foi analisada pelo grau de preferência alimentar. Diferenças no consumo de itens autóctones e alóctones e possíveis mudanças ontogenéticas ao longo do desenvolvimento da espécie foram verificadas por uma análise de correspondência. Para o estudo da reprodução foram analisadas as variações nos estádios de maturação, relação gonadossomática, grau de gordura acumulada, condição corporal, fecundidade e tipo de desova. O comprimento médio de primeira maturação gonadal foi estimado pelo ajuste não-linear e a condição corporal foi avaliada por modelos de análise de covariância. A fecundidade foi estimada pelo método volumétrico e relacionada ao comprimento padrão, ao peso total, ao peso das gônadas e à relação gonadossomática. No estudo do crescimento, a separação das coortes... / The present study aimed to analyze the biology and ecology of Astyanax cf. scabripinnis paranae in the Ribeirão Grande, a headwater stream located in the Parque Estadual da Serra do Mar (PESM), Núcleo Santa Virgínia, SP. The fishes were sampled monthly from January to December in 2004 and 2006, using gillnets, sieves and funnel traps. Temperature, dissolved oxygen and pH of the water were measured. Pluviometric data, relative humidity and temperature of the air were obtained in the Meteorological Station of PESM. The fishes were fixed in 10% formalin and conserved in 70% alcohol. In the laboratory they were measured as for the total and standard length, weighed and registered the degrees of stomach repletion, of accumulated fat, the sex and the stadiums of gonad maturation. The correlation structure among the environmental variables measured in the sampling collections was verified by a principal components analysis (PCA), which indicated a separation among rainier (October to April) and the less rainy periods (May to September). Differences in the consumption of autochthonous and allochthonous items and possible ontogenetic changes along the specimens development were verified by a correspondence analysis (CA). For the study of the reproduction the variations were analyzed at the maturation stadiums, gonadossomatic relationship, degrees of accumulated fat, corporal condition, fecundity and spawning type. The mean length of first gonad maturation was assessed by a no-linear adjustment. The corporal condition was evaluated by analysis of covariance. The fecundity was estimate by the volumetric method and related to the standard length, to the total weight, to the gonad weight and to the gonadossomatic relationship. In the study of the fish growth, the cohorts’ separation and their mean lengths were obtained using the package MIXDIST and the Bhattacharya method... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Temporary streams have received undeservedly little scientific attention and as a result their role in hydrological, biogeochemical and ecological processes is not yet fully understood. The ultimate goal of the research was to gain a better understanding of the temporary stream network and the processes that control it and determine how the active and connected stream length change with catchment wetness conditions to find simple methods to map seasonal and event-based changes in temporary flowing stream networks. Streams, springs and wetlands of four relatively small headwater catchments (11.7 – 25.3 km2) and one wetland in the steep and remote Zwäckentobel catchment in Alptal, canton Schwyz (Switzerland), were mapped and stream segments were classified by flow type during different weather conditions using direct observations. The mapping was performed by an elite orienteer with mapping experience. The variation in streamflow was analysed and related to the catchment wetness and topography using the TWI-values and the upslope accumulated area of the stream segments. As the catchments wetted up in response to fall rainfall events after a dry summer the flowing stream density increased up to five times and the connected stream density increased up to six times with a 150-fold increase in discharge. Also the number of flowing stream heads increased up to ten times. The best description of the pattern of stream expansion is a combination of the variable source area and the element threshold concepts, where surface topography, particularly TWI (Topographic Wetness Index) and upslope accumulated area (A), and local storage areas controls where streamflow is initiated and how flow in different stream segments connects. Streams in the Alptal show a seasonally bottom up or disjointed connection pattern. Mapping the temporary streams in steep and remote watersheds as a function of hydrological conditions is not an easy task. It is however necessary in order to fully understand where water is flowing or not. A combination of field observations with monitoring equipment can facilitate this extensive work by providing a more detailed temporal resolution.

This master thesis if focused on the phenomenon of hydrological drought in the Šumava (Bohemian/Black Forrest) region. Hydrological drought is defined on seven hydrological stations (Modrava (CZ), Rejštějn (CZ), Sušice (CZ), Zwiesel (DE), Teisnach (DE), Chamerau (DE), Kalteneck (DE)) during period 1931-1937 and 1949-2014. The aim is in finding suitable hydrological dought indexes and other methods and apply them od the data. Results are compared each other and also are compared with studies that were proceed in non-mountainous region. For hydrological drought evaluation the threshold concept and method according Gumbel 1963 were used and deficite volumes were calculated. Seasonality graphs and graphs for nuber of drought days in hydrological years were constructed, For trends defining, Mann.Kendall and Hisch-Slack tests were used. Hydrological drought sesonality is different on german and czech side, it means effect of exposition towards southwest winds. Hydrological drought is concetrated in autumn at german stations and in winter on czech stations. Number of drought episodes decreases with decreasing elevation. There were found significant decreasing trends in drought episodes occurance in time. Monthly trends aren't so clear. On czech side there is significant decreasing trend in winter months,...