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

这个本科生研究体验（REU）网站将在2015-2017年夏季的十周内为七名本科生提供研究体验。这个REU站点将在快速发展的溪流恢复领域产生重要的科学发现，它具有改善水质，减少下游洪水，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。学生将接受职业发展培训，包括道德、负责任的研究行为、研究写作、各学科使用的最先进设备，以及就业和研究生学习机会。结果将在地方、区域和国家会议上以出版物/报告的形式传播，并通过联机录象以及通过与社会和社区团体的互动传播。该项目的学生将从不同的群体中招募。俄克拉何马州的独特之处在于，它是一个高度乡村化的州，有很大比例的美国原住民和第一代大学生。拟议的REU计划将从这些人口中招募与国家招募相结合。这项研究将包括在俄克拉荷马州立大学（OSU）校园的牛溪溪康复基地进行的水文学、地球科学和生物学研究。在最近修复的大学校园里研究溪流的机会是独一无二的。该计划的中心主题将是讨论恢复河流的方法，特别是通过基于过程的调查评估自然水道设计方法。目前许多河流修复工程采用自然水道设计概念，这经常受到批评。另一种方法是对动态系统和河流变化对水力学、泥沙运移和生物群落的影响进行复杂的、基于过程的分析。该项目假设未来的修复方法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，记录河内结构对河流滞留的影响，评估沉积物对鱼类的影响，利用水生大型无脊椎动物评估河岸改造，评估植物多样性响应，以及研究植被对河流温度的影响。

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.