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COURSE INFO PROVIDER: SWSPCP Webinar
COURSE TITLE: Long-Term Resilience of Surface Height on Floodplains

INSTRUCTORS Beth A. Middleton, Ph.D.

COURSE DESCRIPTION Abstract:
Floodplains associated with altered rivers and streams of the central United States are often subjected to surface height loss over decades of time as channels down-cut. In southern Illinois, ground heights on floodplains without bedrock control fell by 0.2 to 0.9 cm per year over the last twenty years. These falling surface heights on floodplains are partly due to the downcutting of altered river channels, which further increases the unit stream power for the transport of sediment and water over the floodplain toward the incising channel. Overall, on floodplain wetlands, ground surfaces gain or lose height over time depending on the balance of processes between plant production and decomposition, and sediment deposition and erosion. Actions to slow channel incision could help to reduce surface height loss and maintain higher levels of surface accretion. The challenge for managers is to develop strategies to reduce impacts on developed infrastructure by limiting channel downcutting through channel restoration, supporting natural vegetation processes, and promoting the resilience of surface elevation, infrastructure, and roadways.

Speaker Bio:
Beth Middleton is a past president of SWS and is currently the section chair for Global Change Ecology. She is a fellow of SWS and the National Conservation Institute, and a past Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer. Before joining USGS as a Research Ecologist in 2002, she was a full professor at Southern Illinois University in the Plant Biology Department. She has won the SWS Merit Award, and a U.S. State Department Ecopartnership Award for her work in Dongting Lake, China.

Her worldwide research is on ecosystem function, with a focus on geographic changes in wetland processes across environmental gradients.

Her Ph.D. is from Iowa State University, where she conducted research on the Keoladeo National Park in India. Her masters degree is from University of Minnesota Duluth, and her bachelors degree is from the University of Wisconsin Madison.

She is a master gardener. Wetlands and gardening keep her connected to the land.

Course Duration: 60 minutes
Credit Points: 0.06

SYLLABUS/TOPICAL OUTLINE Introduction - balance of building and erosion of floodplain surface height along altered rivers (5 min) Methods - Surface Elevation Tables and long-term measurements (5 min) Case studies of southeastern floodplains - Illinois, Delmarva MD, Big Thicket TX, and Jean Lafitte LA (25 min) Restoration of floodplains (10 min) Q & A (15 min)

COURSE CONTACT

Jason T Tucker
6245 Dawes Lane, CINCINNATI, OH 45230
jttucker14@gmail.com
P: 6145816402
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