Evaluation of instream flow management for riparian restoration along the St. Mary River, Alberta

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dc.contributor.authorGill, Karen M.
dc.contributor.authorUniversity of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science
dc.contributor.supervisorRood, Stewart B.
dc.date.accessioned2015-06-11T17:07:07Z
dc.date.available2015-06-11T17:07:07Z
dc.date.issued2007
dc.degree.levelMastersen_US
dc.degree.levelMasters
dc.description.abstractRiver damming and offstream water diversion have led to the severe collapse of riparian cottonwoods along the St. Mary River. To promote cottonwood recovery, a systemic restoration approach was applied by improving critical components of the flow regime, and initial assessments showed successful seedling recruitment. This research provides a longer-term assessment by comparing sapling distribution and growth among six regulated and free-flowing river reaches. Sapling patches along the lower St. Mary were very sparse (14% of reach) compared to those along the similarly-regulated Waterton River (82%). This disparity highlighted different conceptual models of degradation and restoration trajectories. Reach mean sapling diameters were strongly positively related to average spring river levels (R2 = 0.987), indicating that growth along the lower St. Mary may be hindered by low flows. However, more variation in sapling size occurred at smaller spatial scales indicating that site-level factors like density are also important determinants of growth.en_US
dc.embargoNoen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10133/3694
dc.language.isoen_CAen_US
dc.proquestyesNoen_US
dc.publisherLethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Biological Sciences, 2007en_US
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Biological Sciencesen_US
dc.publisher.facultyArts and Scienceen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseriesThesis (University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science)en_US
dc.subjectCottonwood -- Ecology -- Alberta -- St. Mary Riveren_US
dc.subjectRiparian restoration -- Alberta -- St. Mary Riveren_US
dc.subjectRiparian ecology -- Alberta -- St. Mary Riveren_US
dc.subjectSt. Mary River (Alta.)en_US
dc.subjectStreamflow -- Alberta -- St. Mary Riveren_US
dc.subjectRiparian areas -- Alberta -- St. Mary Riveren_US
dc.titleEvaluation of instream flow management for riparian restoration along the St. Mary River, Albertaen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
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