Providing a Restoration Framework for Regulated Rivers

With over 800,000 dams occurring globally and the construction of thousands more being proposed, successful restoration of regulated rivers will depend on the creation of broadly applicable frameworks that provide management solutions by generalizing patterns in habitat and ecology. Based on the prevailing scientific literature, restoring natural stream flows in disturbed rivers is dependent upon developing quantitative, transferable stream flow-ecology relationships. The purpose of my dissertation was to apply a framework to regulated and unregulated streams within an eight-state region of the southeastern US to test its ability to generalize patterns in natural and altered stream flow and develop flow-ecology relationships. I created a simplified, 5-step version of the Ecological Limits of Hydrologic Alteration (ELOHA) framework (Poff et al. 2010). I carried out each of the steps in sequential order for unregulated and dam-regulated streams found in my region. The steps of my restoration framework are as follows: 1. Develop a natural flow classification of unregulated streams 2. Develop a tool that uses landscape characteristics to predict flow class membership 3. Use the predictive tool or pre-disturbance hydrologic information to classify regulated rivers to natural flow classes 4. Based on class membership, generalize patterns in hydrologic alteration 5. Relate ecological patterns to patterns in hydrologic alteration in relation tomorphology, temperature, and landscape disturbance Altogether, the results of steps 1-4 suggest that patterns in natural flow dynamics and hydrologic alterations can successfully be placed within a framework and generalized to provide the basis and context for environmental flow management; however, results of step 5 suggest that patterns in flow alteration were poorly related to fish assemblages relative to channel morphology, habitat fragmentation, temperature, and substrate. Thus, the development of patterns in hydrologic alteration using the existing frameworks (including mine) may not be ecologically-relevant. My results suggest that current regulated river restoration should not be dependent upon the development of flow-ecology relationships alone, but the interaction between flow, morphology, and temperature within a landscape disturbance context. These relationships should be incorporated within a hierarchical framework to guide restoration efforts in regulated rivers in the future.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph. D.

Level thesis:degree_level

doctoral

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Fish and Wildlife Conservation

Department dc:contributor.department

Fish and Wildlife Conservation

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• McManamay, Ryan A.

Chairs dc:contributor.committeechair

• Orth, Donald J.
• Dolloff, C. Andrew

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Angermeier, Paul L.
• Cantrell, Mark A.
• Wynn-Thompson, Theresa
• Frimpong, Emmanuel A.

• landscape
• Hydrologic Landscape Regions
• endemic fish
• Tennessee River
• fragmentation
• flow-ecology relationships
• dams
• hydrology
• fluvial geomorphology
• environmental flow management

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Dc Identifier Other

etd-05162011-171905

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/77088