Anthropogenic land-cover change is driving biodiversity loss worldwide. At the epicenter of this crisis lies Southeast Asia, where biodiversity-rich forests are being converted to oil-palm monocultures. As demand for palm oil increases, there is an urgent need to find strategies that maintain biodiversity in plantations. Previous studies found that retaining forest patches within plantations be...

14 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-110. 1989. Abstract: Riparian communities established along Elder Creek, a tributary of the upper South Fork Eel River, are bounded by two frequencies of periodic flooding. The upper limit for the riparian zone occurs at bankfull stage. The lower riparian limit is associated with a more frequent stage height, called the active channel, having an exceed...

In recent years, riparian condition has become an integral part of any comprehensive environmental monitoring program (Barbour et al 1999, Wissmar and Bechta 1998). The effect riparian zones have on aquatic systems is well documented (Correll 1999). Measuring riparian quantity and quality is a less developed area of study with a wide range of practices depending on study goals and resource avai...

Riparian forests can provide an important service for aquatic ecosystems by sequestering hillslopederived sediments. However, the width of a riparian buffer zone required to filter sediments is not yet wellunderstood. Here are used two complementary tracers to measure sediment retention. The 137Cs technique and the soil carbon isotopic ratios (delta13C) are utilized to investigate sediment depo...

Restoration of riparian areas is an important step towards improving water flow and water quality of the Rio Conchos in northern Mexico. To provide background data for restoration decisions we characterized the ecological integrity of a 40 km long riparian corridor along the middle Rio Conchos. The characterization consisted of determining dominant species of trees and shrubs, structure, and ri...

Recent research has emphasized the importance of riparian ecosystems as centers of biodiversity and links between terrestrial and aquatic systems. Riparian ecosystems also belong among the environments that are most disturbed by humans and are in need of restoration to maintain biodiversity and ecological integrity. To facilitate the completion of this task, researchers have an important functi...

In recent decades, degradation of ecosystem in the steppe region of the Inner Mongolia Plateau, especially in riparian floodplain wetlands, has become a significant ecological crisis. Not uncommonly, with the increasing of livestock in the Inner Mongolian steppe region, a riparian floodplain wetland is becoming a hotspot area of grazing for local herdsmen. Hence, it is essential to understand d...

Although the intense biogeochemical gradients present in riparian zones have the potential to affect mercury (Hg) cycling, Hg dynamics in riparian zones has received relatively little attention in the literature. Our study investigated groundwater filtered total mercury (THg) and methylmercury (MeHg) dynamics in three riparian zones with contrasting hydrogeomorphic (HGM) characteristics (till, ...

Riparian forest vegetation is widely believed to protect riverbanks from erosion, but few studies have quantified the effect of riparian vegetation removal on rates of river channel migration. Measured historical changes in a river channel centreline, combined with mapped changes in floodplain vegetation, provide an opportunity to test how riparian vegetation cover affects the erodibility of ri...

In northeastern Austria, marshlands have been turned into the most productive arable land of the country. As a result, most headwater streams show structurally degraded channels, lacking riparian buff er zones, which are heavily loaded with nutrients from the surrounding crop fi elds. Th e present study examines whether longitudinally restricted riparian forest buff ers can enhance the in-strea...