Evidence details

angus.webb@unimelb.edu.au on 04 Oct 2021
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Study

Citation
GREET, J., WEBB, J. A., & DOWNES, B. J. (2011). Flow variability maintains the structure and composition of in-channel riparian vegetation. Freshwater Biology.
Study description
Looked at plant species richness upstream and downstream of three small dams with two other streams acting as control sites.

Response

Cause term/trajectory
Hydrology - surface flow (variability) (Decrease)
Cause description
Small dams cause a decrease in flow variability, removing a lot of the flow fluctuations downstream, although they do not prevent large floods that over-top the structures.
Effect term/trajectory
Plants (riparian) - richness (Increase)
Effect description
There was a greater number of plant species found within the channel (but not looking at aquatic plants) in the sites downstream of dams. This was mostly driven by a greater number of 'dry' life history specialists and greater number of grass taxa.
Response measure type
F statistic/ratio
Response measure error type
Error not reported
Statistical significance
p = 0.036 for the interaction term of interest (Regulation x Upstream/Downstream)
Documentation
Table 2, Figure 3
Response measure description
Split plot analysis of variance looking to see if species richness changed from upstream to downstream and whether that changed for regulated versus unregulated streams. The term of interest is Regulation x Up/Down interaction. Full response measure information is available in online supplementary material.

Design

Source data
Field
Study type
Observation
Study design
Spatial gradient
Number of independent control or reference sampling units
2
Number of indendent impact or treatment sampling units
3
Sample size used in analysis
10
Design description
Upstream and Downstream locations at each of 5 sites. Each location surveyed with 20 quadrats. Design is split plot, but most like an MBACI where upstream / downstream is analogous to Before/After

Context

Climate
Temperate
Country
Australia
Habitat
Stream/river
Spatial extent
Drainage basin
Temporal extent
Snapshot
Context description
Spatial extent - the surveys were done on 5 independent tributaries of a major river within the same river basin (Yarra River).