REU Site: Evaluating the Effectiveness of Stream Restoration Projects Based on Natural Channel Design Concepts Using Process-Based Investigations

本研究经验的本科生（REU）网站将提供七名本科生在2015-2017年的夏天超过十周的研究经验。这个REU网站将产生重要的科学发现，在迅速扩大的领域流恢复，这具有改善水质，减少下游洪水，并提供河岸和水生栖息地的环境和社会效益。参与者将受益于多学科合作和经验丰富的指导。学生将接受有关道德，负责任的研究行为，研究写作，在各个学科中使用的最先进的设备，职业和研究生院的机会的专业发展培训。将通过出版物/在地方、区域和国家会议上的介绍，通过在线录像以及通过与社会和社区团体的互动，传播成果。该计划的学生将从不同的群体中招募。俄克拉荷马州也是独特的，因为它是高度农村与美洲原住民和第一代大学生的比例很大。拟议的REU计划将从这些人口中招募与国家招聘相结合。研究将包括在俄克拉荷马州州立大学（OSU）校园的牛溪溪流恢复现场进行水文学、地球科学和生物学研究。在最近修复的大学校园内研究溪流的机会是独一无二的。该计划的中心主题将讨论如何恢复溪流，并通过基于过程的调查，特别是评估自然通道设计方法。目前许多溪流修复工程采用自然河道设计理念，这往往受到批评。另一种方法是对动态系统进行复杂的、基于过程的分析，并分析河流修改对水力学、沉积物输运和生物群落的影响。该项目假设，未来的恢复方法将很可能类似于自然通道设计和基于过程的技术的变形组合。学生将参与研究项目，量化植被对河岸侵蚀的作用，记录流中结构对流中保留的影响，评估沉积物对鱼类的影响，使用水生大型无脊椎动物评估河岸修改，评估植物多样性响应，并研究植被对流温度的影响。

This Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Site will provide seven undergraduate students a research experience over a ten week period during the summers of 2015-2017. This REU site will generate important scientific discoveries in the rapidly expanding field of stream restoration, which has environmental and societal benefits of improving water quality, minimizing downstream flooding, and providing riparian and aquatic habitat. Participants will benefit from multi-disciplinary collaboration and experienced mentoring. Students will receive professional development training on ethics, responsible conduct of research, research writing, state-of-the-art equipment used in various disciplines, and career and graduate school opportunities. Results will be disseminated in publications/presentations at local, regional, and national meetings, through on-line videos, and also through interaction with society and community groups. Students for the program will be recruited from diverse groups. Oklahoma is also unique in that it is highly rural with a large percentage of Native Americans and first generation college students. The proposed REU program will recruit from these populations in combination with national recruitment.The research will include studies in hydrology, geosciences, and biology at the Cow Creek Stream Rehabilitation Site on the Oklahoma State University (OSU) campus. The opportunity to study streams at a site on a University campus recently rehabilitated is unique. The central theme of the program will be discussing ways to rehabilitate streams, and specifically evaluating natural channel design approaches through process-based investigations. Many current stream rehabilitation projects use natural channel design concepts, which are often criticized. The alternative is a complex, process-based analysis of the dynamic system and impact of stream modifications on the hydraulics, sediment transport, and biological community. This project hypothesizes that future restoration approaches will most likely resemble a morphed combination of natural channel design and process-based techniques. Students will participate in research projects quantifying the role of vegetation on streambank erosion, documenting the influence of in-stream structures on retention in the stream, evaluating the effect of sediment on fish, using aquatic macroinvertebrates to assess streambank modifications, evaluating plant diversity response, and studying vegetation impacts on stream temperature.