Quantifying riparian vegetation dynamics and flow interactions for Nature Based Solutions using novel environmental sensing techniques

该项目旨在改变我们对河流走廊中植被和水流相互作用的理解，重点是为可持续河流管理的基于自然的解决方案创建一个基线。植被，特别是大型木质碎屑(LWD)，对河流流量、河道形态和碳储存有重大影响。这些相互作用在概念上是很好理解的：植被和随钻测深的存在引起的水流阻力导致水流的变化，从而调节水和泥沙的运输，从而导致河流形态的变化和洪水。同样，这些水-植物相互作用控制着河岸带的碳储存和固存。然而，由于难以准确估计随时间变化的复杂相互作用，例如在数值模型中对水流-植被动力学进行量化的尝试仍然难以捉摸。这是一个主要的限制，因为植被在天然河流走廊中无处不在，经常被用作基于自然的洪水管理解决方案和河流恢复计划的一部分。该项目将利用最先进的环境传感技术和植被功能组框架，结合空间生态技术，解决这些知识差距，以提供河流走廊植被流功能的数据驱动模型。

This project aims to deliver a step-change in our understanding of vegetation and flow interactions in river corridors, with an emphasis on creating a baseline for Nature Based Solution approaches to sustainable river management. Vegetation, and Large Woody Debris (LWD) specifically, has a significant effect on river flows, channel morphology and carbon storage. These interactions are conceptually well understood: the flow resistance introduced by the presence of vegetation and LWD leads to changes in flow which modulate water and sediment transport resulting in changes in river form and flooding. Similarly, these water-vegetation interactions control carbon storage and sequestration in the riparian zone. Yet, attempts to quantify the flow-vegetation dynamics, for example in numerical models, remain elusive due to difficulties in accurately estimating the complex interactions through time. This represents a major limitation as vegetation is ubiquitous in natural river corridors and is often used as part of Nature Based Solutions to flood management and in river restoration schemes. This project will address these knowledge gaps using state-of-the-art environmental sensing techniques and a vegetation functional groups framework in conjunction with spatial ecological techniques to deliver a data-driven model of river corridor vegetation-flow functioning.