Abstract Rivers are dynamic, complex integrators of their environment, which makes verification of the beneficial outcomes of restoration challenging. Thermal regime is central to habitat suitability and is often a focus in planning and evaluating the impact of restoration and climate resilience. Among these concerns, high summer stream temperature has frequently been identified as a limiting factor for salmon, steelhead, and trout. Our objective was to demonstrate the utility of combining high resolution thermal observation and modelling to evaluate restoration designed to mitigate stream thermal processes. This was demonstrated on the Middle Fork of the John Day River which is a critically impacted salmonid fishery in northeast Oregon, USA. We employed distributed temperature sensing and energy‐balance modelling to define the thermal regime. Restoration was predicted to result in a 0.7°C reduction of peak daily stream temperatures while increasing night temperatures by 0.9°C. This combined modelling and monitoring approach suggests that the 2012 restoration offered relief for native fish species stressed by excessive stream temperatures. This powerful combination of technology can be used in many projects to make optimal use of restoration investments to achieve durable and quantifiable improvements in habitat.
Abstract Internal waves can influence water properties in coastal ecosystems through the shoreward transport and mixing of subthermocline water into the nearshore region. In June 2014, a field experiment was conducted at Dongsha Atoll in the northern South China Sea to study the impact of internal waves on a coral reef. Instrumentation included a distributed temperature sensing system, which resolved spatially and temporally continuous temperature measurements over a 4‐km cross‐reef section from the lagoon to 50‐m depth on the fore reef. Our observations show that during summer, internal waves shoaling on the shallow atoll regularly transport cold, nutrient‐rich water shoreward, altering near‐surface water properties on the fore reef. This water is transported shoreward of the reef crest by tides, breaking surface waves and wind‐driven flow, where it significantly alters the water temperature and nutrient concentrations on the reef flat. We find that without internal wave forcing on the fore reef, temperatures on the reef flat could be up to 2.0°C ± 0.2°C warmer. Additionally, we estimate a change in degree heating weeks of 0.7°C‐weeks warmer without internal waves, which significantly increases the probability of a more severe bleaching event occurring at Dongsha Atoll. Furthermore, using nutrient samples collected on the fore reef during the study, we estimated that instantaneous onshore nitrate flux is about four‐fold higher with internal waves than without internal waves. This work highlights the importance of internal waves as a physical mechanism shaping the nearshore environment, and likely supporting resilience of the reef.
The Assist: Hoops, Hope, and the Game of Their Lives. By Neil Swidey. New York: Public Affairs, 2008. 373 pages. $14.95 (soft cover). The Assist is not only about the Charlestown basketball team that won multiple state championships from 1999-2003, but also the players and coaches whose lives were changed as a result of the championships. Neil Swidey, a staff writer for the Boston Globe Magazine, covers every aspect of the team and their lives: from the hours-long commutes of some of the players, to the team practices and games, to the behind-the-scenes activities of the athletes and coaches. Swidey follows several people on the 2004-2005 Charlestown team, including Ridley Johnson and Jason Hood White. White and Johnson are followed from the beginning, when they are named co-captains by head coach Jack O'Brien, to years after they graduate from high school. It's hard not to root for these young men as they battle through a multitude of troubles and glorious victories. The victories include the friendships between teammates - especially between White and Johnson - and Johnson's ultimate acceptance into Tulsa University. On the other hand, trouble usually revolves around White, who fathers a child with his longtime girlfriend only to find someone else to be with. Through all of this, you can't help but feel like you know them personally by the end, since Swidey shows us each aspect of these people's lives as he outlines family life, games, and video game sessions. The main focus is on Jack O'Brien, the head coach of the Charlestown team who led them to four straight titles from 1999-2003. He is portrayed in several lights: as a family man who takes care of his ailing mother, as a steadfast coach who won't let his guys quit, and as a motivator who inspires them to achieve greatness both on and off the court. The reader soon learns that O'Brien, who is such a force to be reckoned with on the court, seems insecure about many things when he's off it. The author describes O'Brien's past relationship with his father, a man with bipolar disorder who left the house when O'Brien was just a teenager. From there, O'Brien found solace only in basketball, and became a coach because of it. In fact, it seems as though O'Brien lives out his dreams of wanting to go to college and be a success through these teenagers, and this shows up in the way he always checks up on the kids to make sure they're on the right track. Though it is a generous and positive gift that he gives to his players, we soon learn that he is doing it as a way to validate his life, and as a result, he seems to match the team and teammates successes to his own life's successes. …
Abstract Streams are complex where biology, hydrology, and atmospheric processes are all important. Because quantifying and modeling of these systems can be challenging, many teams go directly to prescribed restoration treatments and principles. Restoration on the Middle Fork of the John Day River in Oregon, USA, shows how a project that was designed according to widely accepted restoration principles may lead to outcomes contrary to one of the project's stated goals: reducing peak temperatures for endangered salmonids on the site. This study employed the most sophisticated equipment available for stream temperature monitoring, including approximately 1 million independent hourly measurements in the 2‐week period considered. These data were collected along the river channel with fiber optic–distributed temperature sensing and were used to quantify thermal dynamics. These observations were paired with a physically based stream temperature model which was then employed to predict temperature change from design alternatives. Restored‐reach impact on peak temperature was directly correlated with the air–water interfacial area and the percentage of effective shade ( R 2 > 0.99). The increase in air–water area of the proposed design was predicted to increase daytime stream temperature by as much as 0.5°C upon completion of the work. Shade from riparian vegetation was found to potentially mitigate stream temperature increases, though only after decades of growth. A moderately dense canopy of 5 m tall trees blocking 17% of daily shortwave solar radiation is predicted to mitigate predicted temperature increases over the 1,800 m reach but also increases nighttime temperatures due to blocking of long‐wave radiation. These outcomes may not be intuitive to restoration practitioners and show how quantitative analysis can benefit the design of a project. This is significant in an area where riparian vegetation has been difficult to reestablish. Without quantitative analysis, restoration efforts can lead to outcomes opposite to stated goals and may be costly and disruptive interventions to fragile stream systems.
'%3e%3cpath fill='%23012169' d='M0 0v30h60V0z'/%3e%3cpath stroke='%23fff' stroke-width='6' d='m0 0 60 30m0-30L0 30'/%3e%3cpath stroke='%23C8102E' stroke-width='4' d='m0 0 60 30m0-30L0 30' clip-path='url(%23b)'/%3e%3cpath stroke='%23fff' stroke-width='10' d='M30 0v30M0 15h60'/%3e%3cpath stroke='%23C8102E' stroke-width='6' d='M30 0v30M0 15h60'/%3e%3c/g%3e%3c/svg%3e)
'/%3e%3cuse xlink:href='%23a' transform='rotate(60)'/%3e%3ccircle r='17' fill='%23000095'/%3e%3ccircle r='15' fill='%23fff'/%3e%3c/svg%3e)