The Formation of Channel and Floodplain Habitats Essay

The governance of Channel and Floodplain Habitats - Essay ExampleThe abundance of LW in stream channels is an indication of the signify association of river ecosystems with the surround terrestrial environment (Naiman and Bilby 1998, Naiman and Dcamps 1997). Understanding this relationship is crucial in river basin management.Large wood abundance in the watershed depends on channel size, channel type, and the surrounding riparian forest. LW is to a greater extent abundant in small channels on a per unit surface area basis because LW is easily transported in larger channels it follows that whilst abundance in large channels is lower, the intermediate LW sizes are bigger (Bilby and shield 1989). LW is also more abundant where the stream channel is unconstrained and has amercement substrate compared to constrained channels with boulder substrate (Bilby and Wasserman 1989). Moreover, LW is more abundant in forests where conifers are dominating compared to forests where hardwoods a re dominant because conifers are larger making them less transient (Harmon et al., 1986). The abundance of LW is also more pronounced where the forest is mature than in forest dominated by young stands of small hardwoods (Bilby and Ward 1991).Woodland river ecosystems in their natural and pristine conditions are surrounded by riparian forest and nonplus multiple channels. Over the years, the anthropogenic disturbance has greatly reduced riparian forest cover, the topography graded for coarse purposes, and rivers were constrained by levees into a single channel (Caroll & Robinson, 2007 Florsheim & Mount, 2002). Other than forest denudation, this also has deleterious effect on the morphological development of stream and the stream biota.