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Riparian Plant Ecologist David Merritt
Joins
Stream Systems Technology Center Staff
Dr. David M. Merritt is the newest addition
to the Stream Systems Technology Center. A few years ago, STREAM’s
charter focusing on instream flows and channel maintenance was slightly
revised and expanded to address flows to sustain riparian vegetation.
As the Streamside Vegetation Specialist, Dr. Merritt will serve
as a technical specialist for STREAM and be responsible for synthesizing
information about the relationship between flow regimes, streambanks,
and floodplain vegetation.
Among
his duties, Dr. Merritt will:
·
Assess the status
of knowledge regarding the relationship between streamflow hydro-period
characteristics, water stage, and water dependent streamside and
floodplain vegetation on public lands throughout the United States.
·
Synthesize and publish
a comprehensive peer reviewed status of knowledge paper on the relationship
between flow regimes, seasonal water temperatures, and plant characteristics
based on information available in the scientific literature and
from sources with expertise throughout the temperate world.
·
Review and develop
protocols for acquiring and compiling the necessary data to determine
minimum flows necessary to sustain streamside and floodplain vegetation.
·
Develop appropriate
cost effective monitoring protocols to determine if acquired flow
regimes are adequate to sustain plant communities and the beneficial
effects plants have in regulating bank and floodplain erosion.
David Merritt received his Ph.D. in
Ecology in 1999 from Colorado State University as a graduate student
of Dr. Ellen E. Wohl of the Department of Earth Resources. David
brings much relevant plant ecological and geomorphic experience
and expertise to STREAM. For his Ph.D. dissertation he studied
the effects of mountain reservoir operations on the distribution
and dispersal mechanisms of riparian plants. He conducted field
and flume experiments to examine the effects of dams and their reservoirs
on upstream and downstream connectivity in riparian ecosystems and
tested the effects of natural and managed flows regimes on patterns
of plant seed dispersal and riparian plant communities. His M.S.
thesis from the Department of Fishery and Wildlife Biology, also
at Colorado State University, examined riparian vegetation and geomorphic
features on regulated and unregulated rivers in northwest Colorado.
Dr. Merritt also maintains a strong
research relationship with the Landscape Ecology Group at Umeå University
in Sweden on a long-term effort investigating the factors governing
plant species diversity in riparian corridors, connectivity/fragmentation,
mechanical and chemical stresses along river margins, hydrochory
(water dispersal of plants), and floodplain nutrient cycling. Dr.
Merritt is specifically studying the source-sink dynamics of vascular
plants and bryophyte populations as well as plant community development
thorough time in sites along the margins of regulated and free-flowing
boreal streams.
David Merritt can be contacted by
e-mail at dmmerritt@fs.fed.us.
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