Disturbance regimes at the interface of geomorphology and ecology

Abstract

Geomorphological processes are an integral part of ecosystem functioning and ecosystem functioning affects geomorphological processes. Increasingly widespread acknowledgement of this simple idea is manifest in a vigorous research community engaged with questions that address the two‐way interaction between biota and geomorphology, at a range of scales and in a variety of terrestrial and aquatic environments. Geomorphological disturbances are a core element of biogeomorphological interest, and although the disciplines of geomorphology and ecology have each developed languages and theories that help to explore, model and understand disturbance events, little attempt has been made to draw together these approaches. Following a brief review of these issues, we introduce thirteen papers that investigate the interactions and feedbacks between geomorphological disturbance regimes and ecosystem functions. These papers reveal the singularity of wildfire impacts, the importance of landsliding for carbon budgeting and of vegetation accumulation for landsliding, the zoogeomorphic role of iconic and ‘Cinderella’ animals in fluvial geomorphology, biophysical interactions in aeolian, fluvial and torrential environments and the utility of living ecosystems as archives of geomorphic events. Most of these papers were first presented in a conference session at the European Geoscience Union General Assembly in 2010 and several others are from recent volumes of Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Vegetation succession in deglaciated landscapes: implications for sediment and landscape stability

“…Increasing research on vegetationlandscape interactions including plant-sediment dynamics within riverine environments (Gurnell et al, 1999;Corenblit et al, 2008Corenblit et al, , 2009Osterkamp et al, 2012;Cowie et al, 2014), and slope-vegetation interactions (Marston, 2010) have begun to investigate the interaction between biological/ ecological and geomorphological processes. These studies illustrate the role of biogeomorphic interactions in ecosystem functioning and recovery following geomorphological disturbances (Viles et al, 2008;Rice et al, 2012). However, there remains a gap in our understanding of the development and influence of biogeomorphic interactions in the development of ecosystems following large-scale, extreme disturbance caused by glacial processes.…”

Physical and biological controls on fine sediment transport and storage in rivers

“…During spawning, female salmon create redds (nests) by disturbing the bed with strong undulations of their tails (Burner, ). This activity leads to the suspension of fines and modifies bed stability by vertically mixing gravels and fine sediments and disturbing existing armor layers (DeVries, ; Rennie & Millar, ; Rice, Stoffel, Turowski, & Wolf, ). Tail slips (material excavated from redds) are particularly vulnerable to scour (Buxton, Buffington, Yager, Hassan, & Fremier, ; Rennie & Millar, ).…”

Framing resilience for river geomorphology: Reinventing the wheel?

“…Resilience has since been used in conjunction with sensitivity by several authors, either implicitly or overtly (Bruschi et al, ; Fryirs, ; Fryirs, Brierley, & Erskine, ; Fryirs, Lisenby, & Croke, ; Harvey, ; Thompson, Croke, & Takken, ; Wittenberg & Newson, ). Rice, Stoffel, Turowski, and Wolf () overtly recognize the relationship between resilience as an ecological concept and geomorphological ideas of reaction, relaxation, and response time, which are all used to define system sensitivity. Whereas, Phillips and Van Dyke () argue that “geomorphic resilience” relates to dynamical stability and is contingent on how recovery is conceived or defined.…”