Successional and Biogeochemical Dynamics of Ecotonal Riparian Forests in the Coastal Temperate Rainforest primary support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation additional support provided by the USFS PNW Research Station Project Publications | Project Presentations | Return to Naiman Group Homepage

Estelle Balian, UW Fisheries; Scott Bechtold, UW Forestry; Sandra Clinton, UW Forestry; Holly Coe, UW Fisheries; Treva Coe, UW Fisheries; Rick Edwards, USFS, Juneau; Karen Fevold, UW Forestry; Tim Hyatt, UW Forestry; Josh Latterell, UW Fisheries; Thomas O'Keefe, UW Fisheries; Robert Naiman, UW Fisheries, Elizabeth Ritzenthaler , UW Forestry.

Riparian forests, in general, play a central role in regulating the characteristics of aquatic ecosystems as well as having inherently high levels of biodiversity and productivity themselves. The overall goal of our project is to understand and predict the successional and biogeochemical dynamics of riparian vegetation in response to disturbances regimes. Our current phase of the project has five specific objectives that build on the data base developed during the preliminary stages of the project: 1) characterizing large woody debris (LWD) produced by the forest, 2) understanding patterns of seedling survival, 3) understanding how nutrient movements influence seedling survival, 4) examining nutrient exchanges between riparian soils and subsurface waters, and 5) testing emerging concepts at the regional scale.

Intact, uncut, montane riparian forests in humid temperate climates (coastal temperate rainforests) are rare, occurring only in a few coastal watersheds of the Pacific Northwest, northern California to southeast Alaska, Britain, Scandinavia, New Zealand, Tasmania, and Chile. At present there are no quantitative process-based physical or vegetative models applicable to these ecosystems. The results will provide significant insights into biophysical mechanisms influencing biodiversity and productivity, as well as identify processes involved in ecosystem recovery from disturbance.

The primary study area, the Queets River, is located on the western slope of the Olympic Mountains in Olympic National Park, Washington, USA. The glacially fed Queets River watershed drains 1,153 km2 above the USGS gauging station located immediately downstream of the confluence of the Clearwater and Queets rivers. The study area for this research includes the Queets basin above the Clearwater confluence encompassing 723 km2 primarily within the Olympic National Park. The bedrock geology of the Queets basin consists of Tertiary sandstones with minor inclusions of basaltic rock overlain by accumulations of Pleistocene alpine glacial till and outwash, lacustrine deposits, and Holocene alluvium deposited by landslides and fluvial transport.

The Queets River research program is divided into the following projects:

Projects supervised by Robert J. Naiman

• Growth dynamics and productivity of riparian dominant tree species in the Pacific Northwest coastal rainforest (Estelle Balian, Master's student)
• Utilization of off-channel habitat by juvenile salmonids (Treva Coe, Master's, student, graduated)
• The residence time of large woody debris in the Queets River, Washington, USA (Tim Hyatt, M.S., graduated)
• A Comprehensive Budget for Woody Debris Recruitment, Storage, and Removal in Large Coastal Rivers (Josh Latterell, PhD student)

Projects supervised by Rick Edwards

• Seasonal and successional controls on nitrate leaching from a floodplain forest (Scott Bechtold, Master's, student, graduated)
• Distribution Patterns of Hyporheic Fauna in a Floodplain Riparian Terrace, Queets River, Washington (Holly Coe, Master's student, graduated)
• Contribution of riparian soils to hyporheic dissolved organic matter in a large, floodplain river (Sandra Clinton, PhD student, graduated)
• Sub-surface controls on the distribution of benthic algae in floodplain backchannel habitats of the Queets River (Karen Fevold, Master's student, graduated)
• Biogeochemistry and hydrology of a forested floodplain backchannel: riparian and hyporheic interactions. Elizabeth Ritzenthaler (Master's student, graduated)

last update 27 Aug 2001