Determining primary drivers of river bead functionality in mountain headwater streams
type: CreativeWork
description: I evaluated flux attenuation potential, or functionality, in laterally extensive storage-dominated reaches known as 'beads.' Beads are disproportionately important to river corridor health. Bead functionality was evaluated as a relationship between driver variables, which directly measure or measure proxies of geomorphic and biotic system inputs, and response variables, which are proxy variables believed to most accurately reflect flux travel time and storage magnitude, assuming that functional beads contribute to higher travel times and storage magnitudes. Geomorphic driver variables include catchment and reach-scale geometry and catchment hydrology, which approximate water inputs into the stream corridor, as well as delta normalized burn index (dNBR) and catchment slope, which approximate sediment inputs into the stream corridor. Biotic driver variables include wood load, beaver modifications, and riparian vegetation. Response variables include normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), normalized difference water index (NDWI), patch density, and total sinuosity. Driver and response variables were measured through a mixture of fieldwork and remote data for 52 beads in 27 catchments in the Colorado Front Range. Statistical analysis examined relationships between drivers and responses and also examined the effectiveness of grouping the beads in different ways (by dominant vegetation, level of disturbance, and elevation). Analyses suggest that bead functionality is most strongly linked to bead ratio, or the ratio of bead size to catchment size. Generally, functional beads have a higher ratio of bead size to catchment size. In addition, beads can be efficiently grouped by dominant vegetation; these different types of beads display significant differences in catchment geometry, bead geometry, geomorphic inputs, and biotic inputs. Although functionality was found to be the complex result of numerous factors and may require case-by-case assessment efforts, restoratio…
abstract: I evaluated flux attenuation potential, or functionality, in laterally extensive storage-dominated reaches known as 'beads.' Beads are disproportionately important to river corridor health. Bead functionality was evaluated as a relationship between driver variables, which directly measure or measure proxies of geomorphic and biotic system inputs, and response variables, which are proxy variables believed to most accurately reflect flux travel time and storage magnitude, assuming that functional beads contribute to higher travel times and storage magnitudes. Geomorphic driver variables include catchment and reach-scale geometry and catchment hydrology, which approximate water inputs into the stream corridor, as well as delta normalized burn index (dNBR) and catchment slope, which approximate sediment inputs into the stream corridor. Biotic driver variables include wood load, beaver modifications, and riparian vegetation. Response variables include normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), normalized difference water index (NDWI), patch density, and total sinuosity. Driver and response variables were measured through a mixture of fieldwork and remote data for 52 beads in 27 catchments in the Colorado Front Range. Statistical analysis examined relationships between drivers and responses and also examined the effectiveness of grouping the beads in different ways (by dominant vegetation, level of disturbance, and elevation). Analyses suggest that bead functionality is most strongly linked to bead ratio, or the ratio of bead size to catchment size. Generally, functional beads have a higher ratio of bead size to catchment size. In addition, beads can be efficiently grouped by dominant vegetation; these different types of beads display significant differences in catchment geometry, bead geometry, geomorphic inputs, and biotic inputs. Although functionality was found to be the complex result of numerous factors and may require case-by-case assessment efforts, restoratio…
author: Larkin, Katherine, author
author: Wohl, Ellen, advisor
author: Rathburn, Sara, committee member
author: Morrison, Ryan, committee member
language: eng
language: English
keywords: fluvial geomorphology, heterogeneity, storage, flux attenuation, channel-floodplain connectivity, river restoration
date published: 2025
date modified: 2026-07-27T19:12:52Z
provider: Colorado State University
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: Colorado State University. Libraries

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: https://hdl.handle.net/10217/241764

PropertyValue
property ID: DOI
value: 10.25675/3.02084