Research

Before I became a physical therapist, I worked as a fluvial geomorphologist and aquatic ecologist in a variety of positions and settings. I gained extensive experience and training in both the physical and ecological sciences. My research addressed the interactions among the physical and biological components of stream systems.

For access to many of my peer-reviewed papers and presentations, please visit my ResearchGate profile or scroll down to find a selection of my publications and summary of my research projects.

My research emphasized cross-disciplinary study, particularly between biological and physical fields. During nearly a decade of study, I pursued two main research goals: 1) to explore the complex physical-biological interactions of natural systems and 2) provide practical solutions for mediating human impacts on the environment. I was first drawn to the study of rivers and watersheds because I realized how closely the field matched my research ambitions. First, physical-biological interactions play a dominant role in system function and structure. Second, anthropogenic impacts on riverine systems are widespread and often severe, yet every aspect of our society depends on access to clean and abundant water; as a result, effective rehabilitation of riverine systems is essential. My work has helped in the design, management, and monitoring of river restoration and rehabilitation projects throughout the intermountain west.

Post-Doctoral Research

From 2009-2011, I worked as a post-doctoral research fellow with Dr. Jack Schmidt and Dr. Phaedra Budy in the Watershed Sciences Department at Utah State University. During that time, I ran several research projects for the Intermountain Center for River Rehabilitation and Restoration (ICRRR). I conducted research and monitoring projects for river restoration programs throughout the region, working closely with government agencies and non-profit organizations to provide scientific data to aid the design and management of river restoration projects. I was also a co-instructor for ICRRR's annual Stream Restoration Short Course, for which I designed, coordinated, and led field and classroom activities on methods of environmental monitoring and river restoration.

I also regularly assisted graduate students and faculty in the Department of Watershed Sciences with research projects related to fish ecology, fluvial geomorphology, and river restoration. My main duties involved study design, data collection, maintenance of field equipment, data analysis, hiring and training of technicians, budget management, and dissemination of results in reports and presentations. I have written several technical reports and scientific papers and presented research at regional and international conferences.

Select Publications

Salant, N.L., Baillie, M.B., Schmidt, J.S. 2011. Using a historical aerial photograph analysis to inform trout habitat restoration efforts. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms special issue: Historical range of variability. Published online June 2011. DOI: 10.1002/esp.2196. PDF

Budy, P. and N.L. Salant. 2011. Native fish status and trends and opportunities for improvement on the Lower Dolores River: Phase I. Report submitted to the Lower Dolores Plan Working Group - Legislative Committee. ICRRR 2011(1): 1-48.

Salant, N.L., Schmidt, J.C., Wilcock, P.R., and Budy, P.E. 2010. Geomorphic History and Current Channel Condition of the Donner und Blitzen River, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Oregon. Report submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Cooperative Agreement No. 10190-9-J001), Portland, Oregon. April, 2010. ICRRR 2010(2):1-82.

Miller, S.W., Salant, N.L., Budy, P.E., and Schmidt, J.C. 2010. Assessing responses of Bonneville cutthroat trout to restoration strategies implemented under the 1997 Conservation Agreement. Report submitted to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Endangered Species Mitigation Fund (Project No. 0809). February, 2010. ICRRR 2010(1):1-122.

Select Presentations

Salant, N.L., Baillie, M.B., Miller, S.W., Budy, P. and Schmidt, J.C. Imperfect realities: Practical strategies for monitoring geomorphic and ecological responses to trout habitat restoration. Western Divison of the American Fisheries Society Meeting, April 2010, Salt Lake City, UT. Oral presentation.

Salant, N.L., Miller, S.W., Budy, P. and Schmidt, J.C. Scale-dependent geomorphic responses to active restoration: implications for cutthroat trout. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, December 2009, San Francisco, CA. Poster presentation.

Doctoral Dissertation

For my doctoral research, I worked with Dr. Marwan Hassan in the Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia, investigating the influence of several physical and biological factors on the transport, deposition, and infiltration of fine particles in streams.

Title: "Physical and biological factors influencing the fate of fine particles in shear flows"

Abstract: An experimental flume study was conducted to assess the influence of several physical and biological factors on the movement and deposition of fine particles (< 125 µm) in flowing water. Mechanisms of particle movement were elucidated from measurements of flow hydraulics, particle concentrations, surface deposition, and subsurface infiltration for varying flow rates, bed sand fractions, particle densities, initial concentrations, and periphyton structures. Results showed that low flows slowed total deposition, an unexpected result given the lower near-bed Reynolds stresses and velocities of this condition. Similarly, a bed with a high sand fraction also slowed total deposition despite having lower near-bed Reynolds stresses. A higher amount of surface deposition to the high sand bed was offset by limited subsurface deposition, likely due to the clogging of pore spaces by fine sand and reduced advective transport. Particle density also significantly altered deposition rate but had no effect on particle infiltration or flow hydraulics. Along a gradient of low to high initial concentrations, deposition rate and infiltration increased, due to greater particle availability and an increase in particle interactions. A comparison of theoretical and measured concentration profiles showed that for fine particles the Rouse equation, using a depth-integrated particle size, performed as well as or better than more complex models. All models under-predicted concentrations of low-density plastic particles, over-predicted at low concentrations, and performed better with a high sand bed.

Periphyton had a significant effect on hydraulics and deposition for a range of structures, densities and spatial scales. High density, closed periphyton patches compacted under high flows resulted in higher velocities and lower near-bed Reynolds stresses by constricting the flow depth and smoothing the bed surface. Lower density patches increased bed roughness, reducing near-bed velocities and transferring turbulent shear upward. Mucilaginous diatoms at low to moderate biomasses increased deposition rate and surface deposition by reducing near-bed Reynolds stress and enhancing particle adhesion. However, at high biomasses, diatom assemblages clogged interstitial spaces and reduced the amount of subsurface deposition thus slowing total deposition. In contrast, deposition occurred more slowly for most growth stages of filamentous algae, possibly due to partial clogging of the bed and a lack of surface adhesion. However, later algal growth stages increased Reynolds stress and advective transport, in turn increasing the amount of subsurface deposition and thus total deposition rate.

Select Publications

Salant, N.L. 2011. ‘Sticky business’: the influence of surface periphyton on particle deposition and streambed hydraulics. Geomorphology special issue: Multi-scale feedbacks in ecohydrology. 126: 350-363. PDF

Salant, N.L. and Hassan, M. A. (2008) Fine particles in streams: physical, ecological, and human connections. In Coastal Watershed Management, eds. A. Fares and A. I. El-Kadi, WIT Press Royal: Southampton, U.K, 432 pp. (Invited contribution) PDF

Salant, N.L., Hassan, M. A, Alonso, C. V. (2008) Suspended sediment dynamics at high and low storm flows in two small watersheds. Hydrological Processes, 22: 1573–1587. DOI: 10.1002/hyp.6743. PDF

Select Presentations

Salant N.L. and Hassan, M.A. Physical and biological factors influencing the fate of fine particles in shear flows. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, December 2008, San Francisco, CA. Poster presentation.

Salant, N.L. and Hassan, M.A. ‘Sticky business’: the influence of surface periphyton on particle deposition and streambed hydraulics. Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, April 2008, Boston, MA. Oral presentation.

Salant, N.L. and Hassan, M.A. ‘Sticky business’: the influence of surface biofilm on particle deposition and infiltration in streams. American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 2007, San Francisco, CA. Poster presentation.

Salant, N.L., Hassan, M. A., Alonso, C. V. Suspended sediment dynamics at high and low flows in two small watersheds. American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 2006, San Francisco, CA. Poster presentation.

Masters Thesis

For my masters thesis at Dartmouth College (Earth Sciences Department) with Dr. Carl Renshaw and Dr. Frank Magilligan, I studied sediment transport, morphologic changes, and invertebrate response downstream of dams in eastern Vermont.

Title: "Sediment dynamics in flow regulated streams and the impact on aquatic ecosystems"

Abstract: By changing the timing, magnitude and frequency of natural flows, flow regulation alters sediment dynamics and channel morphology with subsequent effects on the aquatic ecosystem. This research has three main objectives: 1) link the ecological impacts of dams to the geomorphic response resulting from hydrologic changes, 2) determine the length-scale and magnitude of these effects, and 3) test the effectiveness of radionuclide techniques at measuring dam impact. A year-long, multi-tool assessment is made of one unregulated and two regulated rivers to evaluate sediment transport and deposition, streambed morphology, habitat conditions, and benthic ecology. In addition, long-term hydrologic and morphologic records and sediment transport models are used to assess temporal changes in stream transport dynamics and bed composition. The results of this research are presented as three independent studies. The first demonstrates that activities of the short-lived radionuclide 7Be in stream bed sediment can be used to quantify sediment transport in a regulated river, from which sediment transport models can be independently calibrated. The second uses long-term hydrologic and morphologic records, embeddedness measurements, and a radionuclide-calibrated sediment transport model to assess changes in the channel beds of two flow-regulated rivers with equivalent changes in flow but opposite changes in sediment supply. The third evaluates the ecological impact of flow-regulation downstream of a flood/control run-of-the-river dam and demonstrates that a decrease in bed mobility has a greater impact on community composition than an oversupply of sediment, but that ecological impacts are relatively small compared to hydrologic and geomorphic changes.

Select Publications

Sennatt, K., Salant, N.L., and Renshaw, C.E. (2008) Reply to discussion by John P. Potyondy and Traci L. Sylte of ‘Assessment of methods for measuring embeddedness: application to sedimentation in flow-regulated streams.’ Journal of American Water Resources Association (JAWRA), 44(1): 262–264. DOI:10.1111/j.1752-1688.2007.00157.

Salant, N.L., Renshaw, C.E., Magilligan, F.J., Kaste, J.E., Heimsath, A.M., and Nislow, F.H. (2007) The use of short-lived radionuclides to quantify transitional bed load transport in a regulated river. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 32(4): 509-524. DOI: 10.1002/esp.1414. PDF

Salant, N.L., Renshaw, C.E., Magilligan, F.J. (2006) Timescales of streambed stabilization due to altered flow and sediment regimes below dams. Geomorphology. In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 10 November 2005. DOI:10.1016/j.geomorph.2005.09.003. PDF

Sennatt, K. Salant, N.L., and Renshaw, C.E. (2006) Assessment of methods for measuring embeddedness: application to sedimentation in flow-regulated streams. Journal of American Water Resources Association, (JAWRA) 42(6):1671-1682. PDF

Select Presentations

Salant, N.L., Renshaw, C.E., Magilligan, F.J. Timescales of streambed stabilization due to altered flow and sediment regimes below dams. American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 2005, San Francisco, CA. Poster presentation.

Salant, N.L., Renshaw, C.E., Magilligan, F.J., and Kaste, J.M. The use of fallout radionuclides to quantify downstream trends in sediment transport below dams. American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting, December 2004, San Francisco, CA. Poster presentation.

Salant, N.L., Renshaw, C.E., Magilligan, F.J., and Kaste, J.M. The use of fallout radionuclides to quantify downstream trends in sediment transport below dams. Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, November 2004, Denver, CO. Poster presentation