Water Stewardship Information Sources
| Citation | Moore, RD, Spittlehouse, D. L. and Story, A. (2005), RIPARIAN MICROCLIMATE AND STREAM TEMPERATURE RESPONSE TO FOREST HARVESTING: A REVIEW. JAWRA Journal of the American Water Resources Association, 41: 813–834. doi: 10.1111/j.1752-1688.2005.tb03772.x |
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| Organization | UBC |
| URL | http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1752-1688.2005.tb03772.x/abstract |
| Abstract/Description or Keywords | stream temperature;forestry;headwater;riparian;microclimate;water quality;watershed management;Pacific Northwest ABSTRACT: Forest harvesting can increase solar radiation in the riparian zone as well as wind speed and exposure to air advected from clearings, typically causing increases in summertime air, soil, and stream temperatures and decreases in relative humidity. Stream temperature increases following forest harvesting are primarily controlled by changes in insolation but also depend on stream hydrology and channel morphology. Stream temperatures recovered to pre-harvest levels within 10 years in many studies but took longer in others. Leaving riparian buffers can decrease the magnitude of stream temperature increases and changes to riparian microclimate, but substantial warming has been observed for streams within both unthinned and partial retention buffers. A range of studies has demonstrated that streams may or may not cool after flowing from clearings into shaded environments, and further research is required in relation to the factors controlling downstream cooling. Further research is also required on riparian microclimate and its responses to harvesting, the influences of surface/subsurface water exchange on stream and bed temperature regimes, biological implications of temperature changes in headwater streams (both on site and downstream), and methods for quantifying shade and its influence on radiation inputs to streams and riparian zones. |
| Information Type | article |
| Regional Watershed | Province |
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| Comments | |
| Project status | complete |
| Contact Name | Dan Moore |
| Contact Email | [email protected] |