Phylogenetic relationships among 18 species of mainly European muroid rodents that belong to three subfamilies were estimated using complete sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. The inferred monophyly of the subfamilies Murinae (mice and rats) and Arvicolinae (voles, lemmings, and muskrats) is in agreement with previous studies. Within the Murinae, the morphology-based division of the genus Apodemus into three subgenera is supported by these DNA sequence data. The relationships among the different genera of the Murinae were generally poorly resolved, and the relationships of Micromys and Acomys to the other murine genera remained unresolved. Within the subfamily Arvicolinae, the relations of the genera Arvicola, Clethrionomys, and Microtus remained tentative with our data. However, within the Microtus group, there is a good molecular support for the phylogenetic relationships. These findings suggest that the origin of the different murine and arvicoline lineages was rapid, indicating an adaptive radiation with fast speciation.

This study investigates the possibility to estimate bed-material transfer in gravel-bed rivers by analysis of morphological changes along Vedder River, British Columbia. Data from repeated cross-section surveys are used to estimate volume changes along the length of an 8 km reach. Gravel budgets are based on a continuity approach. An error analysis is performed to evaluate the uncertainty in the best estimate of transport rates. The mean annual gravel transport into the reach over a 9 year period was estimated to be 36600f 5600m3yr-'. The sediment transport regime along the length of the river is evaluated and examined in relation to peak flood flows. Significant spatial and temporal variability in transport rates is demonstrated, making dubious the generalization of transport estimates from hydraulic calculations, or from sample measurements at a single cross-section. The assumptions, procedures and limitations of the 'morphological approach' to sediment transport analysis are discussed. It is concluded that this approach provides information of quality comparable or superior to that of direct measurements of transport, yet requires less field effort. It also provides additional information about river morphological changes, making it a preferred method for geomorphlogical investigations and for many river management concerns.

Despite the importance of landsliding in routing sediment through mountainous drainage basins, few studies have documented landsliding rates over extended time and space scales. We have investigated landsliding in surficial material in the Queen Charlotte Islands using a large inventory of events, derived from aerial photography, covering an area of 166.7 km2. The mean erosion rate for shallow landsliding is 0.10 mm·a–1, which is at the upper end of shallow landsliding rates observed in the Pacific Northwest and coastal British Columbia, but several orders of magnitude lower than rock-based landsliding rates reported in the literature. Probability distributions for landslide area and volume are somewhat convex in form. Flattening of the curve found at low magnitudes may be due to sampling bias or physical mechanisms inhibiting failure, and the steepening for high values may exist because the sampling period is not long enough to adequately represent large events. Landslides generally initiate on hillslope gradients greater than 0.50–0.60. The largest numbers of landslides occur on south- to southwest-facing slopes and east- to northeast-facing slopes. Most events occur on concave and straight hillslopes in upper-slope positions. Landsliding rates were found not to be affected by rock type. Hillslopes in the Queen Charlotte Islands are often mantled by weathered Quaternary deposits and, hence, landsliding events are not directly controlled by weathering of bedrock. About 31% of landslides identified in this study deposited material in stream reaches, with about 83% of these landslides deposited in reaches with gradients between 3% and 10%.

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A field study was conducted to analyze root throw and associated sediment transport in Hawk Creek Watershed, Canadian Rockies. A large crown fire in 2003 allowed the opportunity to study pre-fire and post-fire root throw. Based on field data, a significant relation was found between gradient and root plate volume, as well as individual root plate dimensions. Given that tree diameters increase as trees age and that a relation in the field data was found between tree diameter and root plate volumes, sediment transport due to root throw is expected to change in response to forest disturbance and stand age. Sediment disturbance, which is the amount of sediment upheaved during tree topple and does not take into account transport distance, shows higher values on steeper gradients. Sediment transport was notable for the steepest plots, with pre-fire values of 0·016 cm 3 cm -1 a -1 and post-fire values of 0·18 cm 3 cm -1 a -1 . A tree population dynamics model is then integrated with a root throw transport model calibrated for the Canadian Rockies to examine the temporal dynamics of sediment transport. Fire is incorporated as a disturbance that initiates development of a new forest, with the model cycling through generations of forest. Trees fall according to an exponential rate that is based on time since death, resulting in a time lag between tree mortality and sediment transport. When values of time-since-previous-fire are short, trees are generally <13 cm, and minimal sediment is upheaved during toppling. If trees reach a critical diameter at breast height (dbh) at time of fire, a pulse of sediment occurs in the immediate post-fire years due to falling of killed trees, with tree fall rates decreasing exponentially with time-since-fire. A second pulse of root throw begins at about 50 years after the previous fire, once new recruits reach a critical dbh and with initiation of competition-induced mortality.