Dendroecology

Research is needed to assess long term trends in riparian forest spatial extent, dynamics of cottonwood regeneration, and to better understand successional trajectories of forest species composition within aging riparian stands. The South Platte River is a riparian forest system that is currently regenerating. Understanding what contributes to regeneration in this forest system, and what factors contribute to forest health (as indicated by annual biomass production; large ring widths), can give insight to how regeneration occurs with different spatial and temporal variation at the site level or among all sites. Preliminary analysis has shown that regeneration is occurring within this system. Multiple regression will be used to determine what climatic variables and what hydrologic variables contribute to both regeneration (date of establishment) and forest health (as indicated by ring-width variation). Additionally, this study will attempt to correlate variation in ring-with (remainder of what is unexplained by climate and hydrology) to channel migration. The implications of the findings from this study can inform management, and help understand what factors are working to influence forest health and regeneration in a modern forest system under the influence of a water-system closely influenced by a metropolis and agricultural landscape