Putting down roots: Afforestation and bank cohesion of Icelandic Rivers
Abstract Riparian vegetation is widely recognized as a critical component of functioning fluvial systems. Human pressures on woody vegetation including riparian areas have had lasting effects, especially at high latitude. In Iceland, prior to human settlement, native downy birch woodlands covered ap...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rra.4172 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/rra.4172 |
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crwiley:10.1002/rra.4172 2024-06-02T08:09:10+00:00 Putting down roots: Afforestation and bank cohesion of Icelandic Rivers Rathburn, Sara L. Eysteinsson, Þröstur Sæmundsson, Þorsteinn Kemper, John T. Wieting, Celeste D. Friedman, Jonathan M. Fulbright Association National Science Foundation 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rra.4172 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/rra.4172 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ River Research and Applications volume 39, issue 9, page 1669-1681 ISSN 1535-1459 1535-1467 journal-article 2023 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.4172 2024-05-03T11:27:25Z Abstract Riparian vegetation is widely recognized as a critical component of functioning fluvial systems. Human pressures on woody vegetation including riparian areas have had lasting effects, especially at high latitude. In Iceland, prior to human settlement, native downy birch woodlands covered approximately 15%–40% of the land area compared to 1%–2% today. Afforestation efforts include planting seedlings, protecting native forest remnants, and acquiring land areas as national forests. The planted and protected nature of vegetation along rivers within forests provides a unique opportunity to evaluate the various taxa within riparian zones and the channel stabilizing characteristics of the vegetation used in afforestation. We investigated bank properties, sediment textures, and root characteristics within riparian zones along four rivers in forests in Iceland. Bank sediment textures are dominantly sandy loam overlying coarser textures. Undercut banks are common because of erosion of the less cohesive subsurface layer. Quantitative root data indicate that the woody taxa have greater root densities, rooting depths, and more complex root structures than forbs or graminoids. The native downy birch has the highest root densities, with <1 mm roots most abundant. Modeling of added bank cohesion indicates that willow provides up to six times and birch up to four times more added cohesion to the coarse sediment textures comprising stream banks compared to no vegetation. We conclude that planting and protecting the native birch and willow helps to reduce bank erosion, especially where long‐term grazing exclusion can be maintained. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland Wiley Online Library River Research and Applications 39 9 1669 1681 |
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English |
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Abstract Riparian vegetation is widely recognized as a critical component of functioning fluvial systems. Human pressures on woody vegetation including riparian areas have had lasting effects, especially at high latitude. In Iceland, prior to human settlement, native downy birch woodlands covered approximately 15%–40% of the land area compared to 1%–2% today. Afforestation efforts include planting seedlings, protecting native forest remnants, and acquiring land areas as national forests. The planted and protected nature of vegetation along rivers within forests provides a unique opportunity to evaluate the various taxa within riparian zones and the channel stabilizing characteristics of the vegetation used in afforestation. We investigated bank properties, sediment textures, and root characteristics within riparian zones along four rivers in forests in Iceland. Bank sediment textures are dominantly sandy loam overlying coarser textures. Undercut banks are common because of erosion of the less cohesive subsurface layer. Quantitative root data indicate that the woody taxa have greater root densities, rooting depths, and more complex root structures than forbs or graminoids. The native downy birch has the highest root densities, with <1 mm roots most abundant. Modeling of added bank cohesion indicates that willow provides up to six times and birch up to four times more added cohesion to the coarse sediment textures comprising stream banks compared to no vegetation. We conclude that planting and protecting the native birch and willow helps to reduce bank erosion, especially where long‐term grazing exclusion can be maintained. |
author2 |
Fulbright Association National Science Foundation |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rathburn, Sara L. Eysteinsson, Þröstur Sæmundsson, Þorsteinn Kemper, John T. Wieting, Celeste D. Friedman, Jonathan M. |
spellingShingle |
Rathburn, Sara L. Eysteinsson, Þröstur Sæmundsson, Þorsteinn Kemper, John T. Wieting, Celeste D. Friedman, Jonathan M. Putting down roots: Afforestation and bank cohesion of Icelandic Rivers |
author_facet |
Rathburn, Sara L. Eysteinsson, Þröstur Sæmundsson, Þorsteinn Kemper, John T. Wieting, Celeste D. Friedman, Jonathan M. |
author_sort |
Rathburn, Sara L. |
title |
Putting down roots: Afforestation and bank cohesion of Icelandic Rivers |
title_short |
Putting down roots: Afforestation and bank cohesion of Icelandic Rivers |
title_full |
Putting down roots: Afforestation and bank cohesion of Icelandic Rivers |
title_fullStr |
Putting down roots: Afforestation and bank cohesion of Icelandic Rivers |
title_full_unstemmed |
Putting down roots: Afforestation and bank cohesion of Icelandic Rivers |
title_sort |
putting down roots: afforestation and bank cohesion of icelandic rivers |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rra.4172 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/rra.4172 |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
River Research and Applications volume 39, issue 9, page 1669-1681 ISSN 1535-1459 1535-1467 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.4172 |
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River Research and Applications |
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39 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
1669 |
op_container_end_page |
1681 |
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