Riparian-Ecology-ppt-report . powerpoint presentation

Riparian Zones
1. Define riparian ecology
2. Identify the characteristics and functions of
riparian zone
3. Enumerate threats to riparian zone
4. Appreciate the importance of riparian zone
OBJECTIVES

VIDEO PRESENTATION
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IFPDPglDqY

Riparian Zones
RIPARIAN
- relating to wetlands adjacent to rivers and
streams
ECOLOGY
- the branch of biology that deals with the relations
of organisms to one another and to their physical
surroundings.
Definition of terms
(Definition from Oxford Languages)

Riparian Zones
• The word riparian is derived from Latin ripa, meaning "river
bank".
• Riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between
land and a river or stream.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riparian_zone

“
”
-is the study of all aspects
of the ecology of the
zones adjacent to rivers
and streams, known as
Riparian Zones.
https://www.nature.com
These include river
banks and floodplains.
The role these zones have
in maintaining water
quality.

Riparian Zones
A riparian zone is a vegetated area (a "buffer
strip") near a stream which helps shade and
partially protect a stream from the impact of
adjacent land uses.

Riparian Zones
• Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks are
called riparian vegetation, characterized by hydrophilic plants.
• Riparian zones are important in ecology, environmental resource
management, and civil engineering because of their role in soil
conservation, their habitat biodiversity and the influence they have
on fauna and aquatic ecosystems,
including grasslands, woodlands, wetlands, or even non-vegetative areas.
• In some regions, the terms riparian woodland, riparian
forest, riparian buffer zone, riparian corridor, and riparian strip are
used to characterize a riparian zone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riparian_zone

Zone 1. Large Native trees provide shade and bank stabilization
Zone 2. Native shrubs, this zone provides habitat for wildlife. Absorbs contaminants.
Zone 3. First line of defense against contaminants. Mostly of native grasses; slows water runoff.
•Streambed Zone. Fallen limbs, trees, and tree roots; slows water flow, reduces erosion. Woody
debris increases habitat and cover aquatic species.

• In a healthy riparian zone, there are typically
three layers of vegetation that occur:
Tall trees
Shorter trees and shrubs
Flowering plants and ferns

CHARACTERISTICS OF RIPARIAN ZONES
• Riparian ecosystems are the most biologically diverse terrestrial
ecosystems on earth (Naiman and Décamps 1997).
• Compared to surrounding uplands, they have disproportionately
higher structural heterogeneity species richness biomass
productivity(true for desert, temperate and humid, tropical,
coastal, and boreal regions) however riparian areas occupy a very
small proportion (1-5%) of the landscape.

CHARACTERISTICS OF RIPARIAN ZONES
• Riparian zones have inherent properties (spatial and temporal
heterogeneity) that accommodate more species of vascular plants,
insects, amphibians, birds and mammals
• Landscape integrators: status of riparian zones can serve as an
indicator of the “health” of a watershed

FUNCTIONS OF RIPARIAN ZONES
Several things distinguish riparian wetlands from other
wetland types:
A)Linear form
B)High energy and material transfer
C)Functionally connected
D) Dependent on mechanical disturbance

A) Linear form
• Proximity to streams or rivers
• Serve as corridors through the larger landscape: may
enable insects, birds, and mammals to move more freely
- facilitating interactions between populations, genetic
exchange, etc.

B) High energy and material transfer
• converge and pass through riparian ecosystems in greater amounts than in
surrounding ecosystems. (“Open systems”)
• Rivers transport a great mass (volume) of dissolved nutrients and organic
matter, much of which is stored in riparian floodplain areas.
-Riparian zones serve as a filter buffering aquatic from
upland systems.
-Very productive soils (agriculture!)

C) Functionally Connected
• upstream and downstream ecosystem
• River channels coalesce delivering seeds from sub-basins of a watershed
so rivers may maintain their own levels of species richness even when
moving from a species rich to poor region.

D) Mechanical disturbance
• Critical to riparian functioning, productivity and diversity
• Disturbance (flooding)
-maintains structural heterogeneity (e.g., landform
elevations)
-creates steep environmental gradients of soil
texture, water availability, oxygen levels
-resets successional processes in riparian vegetation.

HUMAN FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE A RIPARIAN ZONE
• Road building may cause accelerated erosion, introduce oil and other pollutants to the
stream, cut off subsurface water flow to the stream and threaten wildlife.
https://extension.usu.edu/waterquality/learnaboutsurfacewater/watersheds/riversandstreams/riparianzones

• Farming can increase erosion of stream banks if the riparian zones are cleared for more
farmland. Farmland is lost where the erosion occurs and sedimentation increases
downstream. Farmers maintain the health of their riparian areas to ensure long-term
sustainability of their land.

• Grazing or overgrazing of the riparian zone can cause changes in the types of vegetation
and the amount of cover and forage, increase erosion, and introduce increased amounts
of nutrients and fecal coliform bacteria to the stream through manure.
However, if cattle are managed correctly (herded or fenced out after a short time) they
can be a part of a healthy riparian zone.

Dams reduce downstream
flooding. while this serves the people
who live downstream in the floodplain,
it degrades riparian zones. Natural
flood cycles are critical to healthy
riparian zones.
Floods bring essential supplies
of water, nutrients and sediment. They
also help to create backwater that serve
as critical fish nurseries.

Development of riparian
zones for housing or commercial
development often causes removal
of vegetation and alters the
stream banks.
These changes can increase
the intensity of floods, increase
the direct input of pollutants to
water, and decrease wildlife.

Logging operations today realize the
importance of healthy riparian zones and
rarely log them. However, logging roads
continue to be built through these zones,
creating the same problems that all roads do.
When upland vegetation is stripped away,
too much water is allowed to flow down into
the stream at one time, which can lead to
bank erosion, deep and narrow channels,
shrunken riparian zones, and often increased
loads of sediments.

NATURAL FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE A RIPARIAN ZONE

Riparian zones are important to a
stream because:
• They filter pollutants and prevent them from
entering the stream.
https://www.boone.k12.ky.us/userfiles/1027/Classes/5350/notes riparian%20zone.pptx?id=564571

• They prevent the streambank from eroding
or wearing away.
stream because:

stream because:
• They supply shade to the stream
Shade helps keep the water temperature cool.

stream because:
• They provide shelter and food for animals that live
in or near the stream

Riparian Zone Environmental Benefits
Water Quality
• Intercepting sediment/ nutrients from fertilizers
• Intercepting pesticides and other materials in surface
runoff
• Bank stabilization

Habitat benefits
• Provide habitat
• Increase biodiversity
• Buffers acting as wildlife corridors
• Shading water

Economic benefits
• Increase land value -
• Produce profitable alternative crops – nut
crops
• Increase lease fees for hunting

Native Riparian Plants
Cattails
Sedges
Box Elder or
Ashleaf Maple
Silver Maple
Trees “water-loving” species
Sycamore
Willows
Elms
Cottonwood
Buckeye
Spice bush
Cardinal
Flower
Blue Lobelia
Edge Plants
Swamp
Milkweed
Button Bush
Virginia Bell
Flower
Swamp
Mallow

Bush Honeysuckle
Japanese Honeysuckle
Riparian Invasive Plants – introduced plants
that replace natives – often the predominant plants
found in riparian zones
Winter creeper
English Ivy
Periwinkle
Japanese Knotweed
Burning Bush
Multiflora Rose
Garlic Mustard
Air Yam

INTRODUCTION
The QBR index has been applied to three river basins in Catalonia, NE Spain, all sharing a
Mediterranean climate with a mean annual rainfall ranging from 300 to 600 mm and dry summers
with low or no rainfall.
The article describes the development of an index of riparian quality that can be calculated in
the field using easily identified and measurable features. The index is named ‘QBR’ from its
catalan abbreviation, ‘Qualitat del Bosc de Ribera’ (in English, ‘Riparian Forest Quality’) and its
application to three catchments in NE Spain is presented.

INTRODUCTION
The relative simplicity of the QBR index allows its calculation in a few minutes, which is an
advantage over other methods which are more time consuming. The QBR index is designed only
for riparian zones because it measures the habitat quality from the banks of streams and rivers.
The index is independent of other river features which are used in other indices that evaluate
riparian zones together with other basin characteristics such as the river bed or general
conservation values. The QBR index can also be used together with other metrics to obtain a
measure of integrated quality value in streams such as the Llobregat, Besos, Tordera and Foix in
NE Spain.

METHODOLOGY
Calculation of the QBR index in the field is made using a two-sided sheet which is completed by a
field surveyor (an ‘observer’) who is familiar with the most common tree and shrub species found in the
study areas (Appendix). The index must be calculated in river or stream lengths of 50 m (upstream
areas) or 100 m (middle and lower reaches) At present, the index is being used by different research
teams and tested in a comparative study of 12 watersheds along the Mediterranean Spanish coast
For index determination, the river is divided into two sections: the main channel and the riparian
area. The former is subdivided into two: the area permanently covered with flowing water (which is not
considered in the scoring process), and the channel zone between the permanently flowing reach and
the bankfull state (see the figure at the top of the field sheet of the appendix)

METHODOLOGY
An assessment of component factors of QBR. Total vegetation cover. This is assessed both for the
riparian and channel areas and includes any kind of tree, bush, shrub or helophyte. Vegetation cover
structure. An assessment is made of the structural complexity of the riparian environment that may
increase the biodiversity of the fluvial ecosystem, both for animals and plants. Cover quality. The
number of tree species present in a stream reach will vary depending on river geomorphology and
stream type. River channel alterations. Man-made river channel alterations are included in the index
because they are one of the main disturbances to the riparian habitat

RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Eighteen tree species were recorded, seven of which are considered to be non-native. Several tree,
shrub and helophyte species were commonly found, while others were scarce. One abundant non-
native species (Arundo donax) was recorded.
The QBR index values were grouped in ranges of quality (Table 6). The QBR index of 45
sampling localities was lower than 50, implying that the riparian environments were of poor quality at
many sites in the three catchments studied.
No significant differences were found in the percentages of sites and observations for each
quality class (Table 6). Low values were found predominantly downstream (Figure 1), but were also
occasionally found upstream independent of the differences in vegetation species composition
between upper and lower stream reaches.
The highest values recorded in Groups 5–8 (middle and lower parts of the catchments) were
consistently lower than those of Groups 1–4, but high and low values are found in each of the eight
groups defined by TWINSPAN. This indicates that QBR evaluates the habitat quality independent of
the floristic composition at each site (sites with alder may have lower value than others with poplar in
accordance with the rationale of the QBR index).

RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The results show that the QBR index may be used despite regional differences in plant
communities. The quality ranges obtained when the index is applied are not heavily influenced by
observers at the same site.

RECOMMENDATION
It is expected that the QBR index may be adapted for use in other geographical areas in
temperate and semi-arid zones without changes in the index rationale.

 Journal Article
References
• MUNNE N. PRAT, S. !. (2002). A simple field method for assessing the ecological quality of riparian habitat in
rivers and streams: QBR index. AQUATIC CONSERVATION: MARINE AND FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS, 17.
https://scholar.google.com.ph/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&as_vis=1&q=a+simple+field+method+for+asse
ssing+the+ecological+quality.+of+riparian+habitat+&btnG=

• Riparian zones are important to streams, https://www.boone.k12.ky.us/userfiles/1027/Classes/5350/notes-
riparian%20zone.pptx?id=564571
• Riparian zones, EXTENSION, Utah State University,
• Welcome to the Riparian Zones, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IFPDPglDqY
• Townsend,K., Riparian Ecosystem Outline, https://slideplayer.com/slide/14350287/
References
 Video presentation
• Welcome to the Riparian Zones, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IFPDPglDqY
 Images
• https://extension.usu.edu/waterquality/learnaboutsurfacewater/watersheds/riversandstreams/riparianzones

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