Rebecca Diehl: Investigating Interactions in Plants, Water, & Sediment Models of Riparian Ecosystems

Shifts to the climate and the way in which water resources are managed in the Southwestern US will alter flow and sediment regimes, influencing the character of riparian ecosystems in an unknown way. In this talk, I present findings from my research investigating interactions among riparian plants, hydrology, and sediment important for controlling the co-adjustment of plant communities and the geomorphic template on which these communities grow. Inclusion of this deeper understanding of ecogeomorphic processes to hydrologically-driven predictive models can provide insight into the trajectory of changes to ecosystem properties. I provide an example of likely changes to vegetation and geomorphic processes given anticipated flow regimes for the Yampa River in the Colorado River Basin.