Search Menu
DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Search Scholarly Publications

Title: Riparian vegetation shade restoration and loss effects on recent and future stream temperatures

Journal Article · · Restoration Ecology
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13626 · OSTI ID:1982921
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [4]
  1. Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Narragansett, RI (United States)
  2. US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Seattle, WA (United States)
  3. US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Narragansett, RI (United States)
  4. USDA Forest Service, Boise, ID (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

River temperatures are expected to increase this century harming species requiring cold-water habitat unless restoration activities protect or improve habitat availability. Local shading by riparian vegetation can cool water temperatures, but uncertainty exists over the scaling of this local effect to larger spatial extents. Here, we evaluate this issue using a regional spatial stream network temperature model with covariates representing shade effects to predict mean August stream temperatures across 78,195 km of tributaries flowing into the Columbia River in the northwestern United States. We evaluate nine scenarios predicting stream temperatures for three riparian shade conditions (current, restored, and no riparian vegetation) within three different climate periods (2000s, 2040s, and 2080s). Results suggest riparian shade restoration (2000s climate) could decrease mean August stream temperatures by 0.62°C across the study network. Under the same restored shade conditions, temperature predictions for tributaries at their confluence with the Columbia River range from 0.02 to 2.08°C cooler than under current shade conditions. The climate warming effect predicted for the 2040s and 2080s, however, is greater than the cooling effect from restoring riparian shade. Streams less than 10-m bankfull width cooled more frequently with riparian shade restoration. In Oregon, the proportion of fish habitat for salmon and trout rearing and migration that meet temperature numeric water quality criteria could be increased by 20% under restored shade conditions although net habitat declines may still occur in the future. We conclude riparian vegetation restoration could partially mitigate future warming and help maintain cold-water habitats that function as thermal refuges if implemented strategically.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0014664
OSTI ID:
1982921
Journal Information:
Restoration Ecology, Journal Name: Restoration Ecology Journal Issue: 7 Vol. 30; ISSN 1061-2971
Publisher:
Wiley - Society for Ecological RestorationCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (47)

Seeing the landscape for the trees: Metrics to guide riparian shade management in river catchments journal May 2015
Spatial statistical network models for stream and river temperature in New England, USA journal August 2016
The NorWeST Summer Stream Temperature Model and Scenarios for the Western U.S.: A Crowd-Sourced Database and New Geospatial Tools Foster a User Community and Predict Broad Climate Warming of Rivers and Streams: STREAM CLIMATES IN THE WESTERN U.S. journal November 2017
The effect of riparian woodland cover on ecosystem service delivery by river floodplains: a scenario assessment journal August 2021
Rethinking the longitudinal stream temperature paradigm: region-wide comparison of thermal infrared imagery reveals unexpected complexity of river temperatures: COMPLEXITY IN LONGITUDINAL THERMAL PROFILES WITHIN AND AMONG RIVERS journal June 2015
A comparison of forest and moorland stream microclimate, heat exchanges and thermal dynamics journal January 2008
Global Warming of Salmon and Trout Rivers in the Northwestern U.S.: Road to Ruin or Path Through Purgatory? journal May 2018
Applications of spatial statistical network models to stream data: Spatial statistical network models for stream data journal March 2014
Estimation of forest harvesting-induced stream temperature changes and bioenergetic consequences for cutthroat trout in a coastal stream in British Columbia, Canada journal November 2011
An Ecological Perspective on In-Stream Temperature: Natural Heat Dynamics and Mechanisms of Human-CausedThermal Degradation journal June 2001
Fire in the Riparian Zone: Characteristics and Ecological Consequences journal April 2007
Individual based modeling of fish migration in a 2-D river system: model description and case study journal March 2019
Effect of riparian vegetation on stream bank stability in small agricultural catchments journal January 2019
Effect of field sampling design on variation partitioning in a dendritic stream network journal December 2016
Some approaches for measuring and modelling riparian shade journal May 2005
To aggregate or not? Capturing the spatio-temporal complexity of the thermal regime journal August 2016
Monitoring riverine thermal regimes on stream networks: Insights into spatial sampling designs from the Snoqualmie River, WA journal January 2018
Market-based instruments for biodiversity and ecosystem services: A lexicon journal May 2012
A new generation of the United States National Land Cover Database: Requirements, research priorities, design, and implementation strategies journal December 2018
The role of riparian vegetation density, channel orientation and water velocity in determining river temperature dynamics journal October 2017
Stream temperature under contrasting riparian forest cover: Understanding thermal dynamics and heat exchange processes journal January 2018
Effects of Clear-Cutting on Stream Temperature journal August 1970
Scenario Planning: a Tool for Conservation in an Uncertain World journal April 2003
Stream Temperature Simulation of Forested Riparian Areas: I. Watershed-Scale Model Development journal April 1998
Effects of patchy shade on stream water temperature: how quickly do small streams heat and cool? journal January 2004
Developing a broader scientific foundation for river restoration: Columbia River food webs journal November 2012
Reciprocal subsidies: Dynamic interdependence between terrestrial and aquatic food webs journal January 2001
An Overview of the Columbia Basin Climate Change Scenarios Project: Approach, Methods, and Summary of Key Results journal September 2013
Assessing contributions of cold-water refuges to reproductive migration corridor conditions for adult salmon and steelhead trout in the Columbia River, USA journal December 2020
Historical and Future Stream Temperature Change Predicted by a Lidar-Based Assessment of Riparian Condition and Channel Width journal May 2018
Comparing the behavioural thermoregulation response to heat stress by Atlantic salmon parr (Salmo salar) in two rivers journal May 2019
The thermal regime of rivers: a review journal August 2006
Responses of periphyton and insects to experimental manipulation of riparian buffer width along forest streams journal December 2003
Standards for ecologically successful river restoration: Ecological success in river restoration journal March 2005
Broad-scale ecological implications of ectothermy and endothermy in changing environments: Ectothermy and endothermy journal January 2012
The Role of Riparian Vegetation in Protecting and Improving Chemical Water Quality in Streams 1 : T journal March 2010
Stream channel restoration increases climate resiliency in a thermally vulnerable Appalachian river journal June 2019
Ecological Forecasts: An Emerging Imperative journal July 2001
Behavioral thermoregulation and associated mortality trade-offs in migrating adult steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss): variability among sympatric populations
  • Keefer, Matthew L.; Peery, Christopher A.; High, Brett
  • Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Vol. 66, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1139/F09-131
journal October 2009
Thermal landscapes in a changing climate: biological implications of water temperature patterns in an extreme year journal October 2019
Factors influencing stream temperatures in small streams: substrate effects and a shading experiment journal June 2004
Mediating Water Temperature Increases Due to Livestock and Global Change in High Elevation Meadow Streams of the Golden Trout Wilderness journal November 2015
Upper Thermal Limits to Migration in Adult Chinook Salmon: Evidence from the Klamath River Basin journal July 2010
SSN: AnRPackage for Spatial Statistical Modeling on Stream Networks journal January 2014
Relationships of Stream Invertebrate Communities to Deforestation in Eastern Madagascar journal October 2003
A mixed-model moving-average approach to geostatistical modeling in stream networks journal March 2010
Effects of climate change and wildfire on stream temperatures and salmonid thermal habitat in a mountain river network journal July 2010

Linked Research (1)

Similar Records

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
climate change
cold-water habitat
ecological forecasting
spatial stream network model
thermal refuge
thermal water quality standards