Thesis (PhD) University of Montana, 2008. / Title from author supplied metadata. Contents viewed on May 19, 2010. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Technology, Sydney, 2004. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on July 15, 2005). Includes bibliographical references (p. [259]-279).

During the late 19th and into the 20th Century, the Tisza River’s vast floodplain-wetland systems were largely disconnected by levees, facilitating "reclamation" for agriculture and resulting in an estimated loss of over 90% of historical wetlands. While levees have been successful in preventing catastrophic flooding for a century, Lower Tisza flood stages continue to rise partially due to aggradation and increased roughness on the confined floodplain. The decrease in the Tisza's current floodway carrying capacity has reduced the flood-protection level of the Tisza's aging levee system. Recently in Hungary, "Room for the River" policies have gained more prominence. For the first of three papers for this dissertation, I assessed eight potential floodplain-reconnection scenarios that would provide more room for the river between Csongrád, Hungary and the Hungary-Serbia border. A novel framework using hydrodynamic and geospatial modeling was used to perform planning-level evaluations of the tradeoffs between floodplain-reconnection scenarios and enhancement of the existing levee system. The scenarios evaluated include levee removal and levee setbacks to strategically reconnect historical wetlands while reducing flood levels. Scenario costs and human population impacts were also assessed. Impacts of reconnecting the Lower Tisza floodplain were compared to heightening levees, the prevailing strategy over the previous century. From a purely construction-cost perspective, heightening Lower Tisza levees is potentially the most cost-effective and politically expedient solution (i.e., impacts the least number of people). However, levee heightening does not solve the long-term problem of reduced flood conveyance, nor does it result in wetland reconnection or enhancement of other floodplain ecosystem services. The suite of reconnection options evaluated provides engineers, planners, and decision makers a framework from which they can further evaluate potential flood-risk reduction options. At least three of the eight reconnection scenarios (setting the western levee back, 1500-meter, and 2000-meter setbacks) along the Lower Tisza demonstrated that floodplain-wetland reconnection is possible while achieving the objectives of minimizing impacts on human populations and reducing flood heights. The Illinois River has a similar history to the Tisza. Levees were constructed, and wetlands were drained during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. By the mid-1920’s, Illinois River levee systems became increasingly difficult for private landowners and the state to maintain as commodity prices fell and flood levels increased. However, the 1928 U.S. Flood Control act shifted a substantial portion of the burden of flood mitigation from local landowners to the federal government, preventing the dissolution of levee districts. While these levee systems have facilitated floodplain agricultural production and development for the last century, disconnecting the river from its floodplain has led to concerns about the negative impacts of levees on the physical and biological systems of the Illinois River Valley. Recent studies have emphasized approaches that would result in setting back or removing levees in order to naturalize portions of large river-floodplain systems, including the Illinois. The costs and benefits of such projects have shown potential restoration benefits may outweigh potential costs, but these studies have not demonstrated the specific levee districts which have the highest reconnection potential from an economic standpoint. The second paper for this dissertation used geospatial methods to fill this gap by assessing the National Commodity Crops Productivity Index (NCCPI) soil values and agricultural production and profit values for corn and soybeans in 32 individual levee districts along a 235-km segment of the Lower Illinois River. In general, soil productivity index values were lower for Illinois River levee districts compared to the county averages in which the districts are located. Over the five-year study period from 2010-2014, the total agricultural profits in the levee districts ranged from $18-61 million. Several levee districts have relatively low per hectare agricultural values when compared to wetland benefit studies, indicating these protected floodplain areas may be suitable for reconnection. For the third and final dissertation paper I used a novel hydrodynamic, geospatial, economic, and habitat suitability framework to assess the tradeoffs of strategically reconnecting the 125-km La Grange Segment (LGS) of the Lower Illinois River to its floodplain in order to decrease flood risk, improve floodplain habitats, and limit the costs of reconnection. Costs included building-associated losses, lost agricultural profits, and total levee removal and construction costs. Modeled scenarios demonstrated that while flood heights and environmental benefits are maximized through the most aggressive levee setbacks and removals, these scenarios also have the highest economic costs. However, the tradeoff of implementing lower-cost scenarios is that there would be less flood-height reduction and less floodplain habitat available. Several levee districts had high potential for reconnection based on limiting potential damages as well as providing suitable floodplain habitat. To implement large-scale strategic floodplain reconnection along the LGS, opportunity costs ranged from $1.1-$4.3 billion. As such, payments for ecosystem services will likely be necessary to compensate landowners for building losses and decreased long-term agricultural production that result in an overall flood-reduction benefit, increased floodplain wetlands, and most-soil plant habitat.

Increased floodplain and wetland restoration activity has raised concerns about potential impacts on the release of greenhouse gases (GHGs) to the atmosphere due to restored connectivity between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Research has shown GHG fluxes from hydrologically active landscapes such as floodplains and wetlands vary spatially and temporally in response to primary controls including soil moisture, soil temperature, and available nutrients. In this study, we performed a semimonthly sampling campaign measuring GHG (CO2, CH4, and N2O) fluxes from six locations within a third-order stream floodplain. Site locations were based on dominant landscape positions and hydrologic activity along a topographic gradient including a constructed inset floodplain at the stream margin, the natural levee, an active slough, the general vegetated floodplain, a convergence zone fed by groundwater, and the upland area. Flux measurements were compared to abiotic controls on GHG production to determine the most significant factors affecting GHG flux from the floodplain. We found correlations between CO2 flux and soil temperature, organic matter content, and soil moisture, CH4 flux and pH, bulk density, inundation period length, soil temperature, and organic matter content. But minimal correlations between N2O flux and the measured variables. Spatially, our results demonstrate that constructed inset floodplains have higher global warming potential in the form of CH4 than any other site and for all other GHGs, potentially offsetting the positive benefits incurred by enhanced connectivity. However, at the reach scale, total CO2 flux from the soil remains the greater influence on climate since the area covered by these inset floodplains is comparatively much smaller than the rest of the floodplain. / Master of Science

The impounding of the waters of the Pongolo river, upstream of its floodplain on the Mocambique coastal plain, may adversely affect the functioning of the floodplain system. A multidisciplinary study of the functioning of the floodplain was initiated to provide a basis for the development of a management strategy for the floodplain. The study reported in this dissertation considered the flood dependence and functioning of the vegetation of the seasonally inundated area. The vegetation was mapped and the communities ordinated, according to the Braun-Blanquet technique, in relation to their positions relative to high flood level (HFL) and the level of the water after flood subsidence (i.e. maximum retention level, MRL). Community distribution was shown to be strictly determined by both the height of the floods and by the MRL. It was concluded that periodic floods are essential for the maintenance of the communities. The Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers. Community, which forms extensive meadows in the zone of periodic inundation, was studied in detail. As the water level receded during winter, productivity was high (up to 23 kg ha¯¹ d¯¹1 dry mass) and a palatable sward was produced. This is heavily grazed by domestic stock, but as the soil dries out and water stress becomes significant, production decreases, C. dactylon becomes less palatable, and grazing shifts to newly exposed areas. The shift in grazing allows the build up of a large standing crop of both grazeable and ungrazeable (below ground and stolons) material. At the time of inundation by the next floods c. 910 kg ha¯¹ of dry mass, c. 17 kg ha¯¹ nitrogen and c. 2 kg ha¯¹ phosphorus have been removed by grazers. It is concluded that this production, which is flood dependent, forms an important supplement to stock grazing during winter. It is suggested that this source of grazing could be stimulated by irrigation during winter. Cynodon dactylon is shown to decompose rapidly during inundation, losing half of its mass and nutrients in c . 28 days. It therefore represents a major energy and nutrient input during the aquatic phase. The extent to which it is grazed during submergence is unknown. The nutrient input is derived ultimately from the soils of the inundated areas and, since nutrients are being removed by both terrestrial grazers and flushing, continued production is reliant upon the annual sediment load reaching the floodplain. Most of the sediment load will now be deposited in the impoundment, and fertilization may be necessary to maintain productivity. The response of C. dactylon to the seasonal fluctuations in water level are used to formulate proposals for water release from the dam. These include proposals for the short-term, i.e. until the demand for irrigation water conflicts with the requirements of the floodplain, and for the long-term, when less water will be available for the floodplain / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1981.

Thesis (M. En.)--Miami University, Institute of Environmental Sciences, 2005. / Title from first page of PDF document. Document formatted into pages; contains [1], v, 169, [1] p. : ill. Includes bibliographical references (p. 36).

published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Master / Master of Science in Construction Project Management

I evaluated the spatial and temporal patterns of the avian communities in the Colorado River delta, Mexico, and their relationship with vegetation type and surface water. I also developed plausible conservation and restoration guidelines for riparian areas and native birds in the region. The study included monthly point counts at 30 transects (240 points) from May 2002 to July 2003, breeding counts at 175 sites (3 times per year) during 2002 and 2003, and habitat measurements at the survey points.The most common species were Mourning Doves, Red-winged Blackbirds, and Brown-headed Cowbirds, but another 64 species were commonly found, including Verdins, Song Sparrows, Yellow-breasted Chats and Abert's Towhees. Surface water was the most important habitat feature related to avian richness and density regardless of vegetation type or land cover (P < 0.005). During summer, species richness was explained by variations in water and the cover of cottonwoods (r2 = 0.56, P < 0.001), and the variation in bird densities was explained by variations in water and the cover of willows (r2 = 0.35, P = 0.003).When comparing native versus saltcedar dominated sites, both with the presence (wet) or absence (dry) of surface water, the diversity of birds was more influenced by the presence of water than by vegetation type. Bird abundance was more influenced by vegetation type, but water also had an important effect, as wet sites had higher bird abundance than dry sites with the same vegetation type, and saltcedar wet areas had similar avian abundance to native dry sites. On all cases, the presence of water was an important factor determining the ecological value, in terms of avian richness, abundance, and diversity, of both native riparian and saltcedar areas. Saltcedar areas with surface water had avian characteristics similar to native riparian sites.The dedication of instream flows and pulse floods, the maintenance of vegetation cover and structural diversity, and an increase of older riparian stands will secure the viability of existing bird populations and will increase the probability of recovery of the species that are still extirpated from the floodplain of the Colorado River in Mexico.

This thesis examines landscape diversity within alluvial valley floors using the case study of a Scottish wandering gravel-bed river. The thesis aims are two-fold; firstly to investigate the spatial and temporal patterns of valley floor landscape diversity within semi-natural environments, and secondly to develop a methodology for quantifying alluvial valley floor landscape diversity in space and time. The diversity analysis involves quantifying the spatial patterns of geo-, pedo- and biodiversity (flora) within floodplain zones which have been exposed to approximately 100 years of recovery since flood embankment abandonment along the most active reaches of the river. In addition historical records including aerial photographs, maps and narrative accounts were used to assess the temporal patterns of the diversity of landscape patches and how they have changed through time using a series of landscape indices. The analysis thus accounts for the role of river channel change in producing a complex mosaic of land cover types within alluvial valley floors. The spatial analysis revealed that landscape diversity tends to be greater in the perpendicular orientation to the main channel, i.e. along an aquatic-to-terrestrial environmental gradient. The temporal analysis results revealed that the landscape over the last 50 years has changed from being dominated by few relatively large isodiametric patches to a landscape dominated by small irregular shaped patches. Thus although landscape patch richness has increased along with an increase in land cover types through time, the landscape patches have also become more fragmented. The major outcomes of the research are the deriving of quantitative results of the spatial and temporal patterns of floodplain landscape diversity, an evaluation of the role of channel dynamics in creating the diverse mosaic of land cover types, the identification of the environmental controls and supporting floodplain habitats of a number of rare species and a proposed methodology for assessing landscape diversity to be validated on other river systems.

The Jedlový Potok is a tributary of the Teplá Vltava River and is situated in the Upper Vltava Floodplain in the Šumava National Park. Part of the Jedlový Potok has been restored in 2015. The aim of the thesis was to record the flora on permanent plots in the Jedlový potok floodplain in the third year after its restoration. Four type of habitats were distinguished in the Jedlový potok floodplain. An extensively mown wet Cirsium meadow and Phalaris arundinacea marsh occurred in the riparian zone with a more fluctuating water table while a short-sedge fen and an Eriophorum vaginatum mire formed a peatland zone further away from the watercourse. Phytosociological relevés were recorded and groundwater table level was measured on two permanent plots within each habitat. Eighty plant species were recorded on the permanent plots. A total of 124 vascular plants was identified in the whole area of interest in the Jedlový Potok floodplain, 17 endangered species included. The botanical survey confirmed the spatial pattern of biotopes typical in the Teplá Vltava River floodplain and a high richness of the floodplain flora.