Civil Engineering ETDs

Publication Date

Spring 3-15-2023

Abstract

The widespread availability of high-quality terrain and long-term hydrologic monitoring data has increased opportunities in hydraulic modeling to support regional planning and decision-making. Hydraulic modeling is already a prevalent tool in riverine construction design for issues like flood control and erosion protection. Despite hydraulic models also being relevant for characterizing habitat conditions, the use of hydraulic modeling for ecological assessment has been fragmented in scale and application. The state of the science presents multiple ways to identify environmental flow criteria and hydraulic estimation of habitat areas. However, it has been challenging to combine these approaches as a parsimonious and effective decision-making scheme. Field observations for threatened and endangered species are inherently limited across spatial and temporal scales. In addition, aquatic ecosystem processes are complex and multi-faceted, requiring habitat management to evolve as understanding evolves. For hydraulic habitat modeling to advance this field, habitat evaluation approaches must be versatile enough to evolve alongside adaptive management strategies. The studies presented in this dissertation present a feedback loop to develop and improve hydraulic habitat definitions based on field data. Two studies investigate 1) the effects of model complexity in characterizing seasonal environmental flows relative to species production; and 2) validation of hydraulic habitat definitions at the restoration-site-scale. The result is a comprehensive approach for developing hydraulic habitat criteria from field data and how these may be applied in decision-making

Keywords

Environmental flows, Rio Grande silvery minnow, hydraulic habitat

Document Type

Dissertation

Language

English

Degree Name

Civil Engineering

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

Civil Engineering

First Committee Member (Chair)

Mark Stone

Second Committee Member

Anjali Mulchandani

Third Committee Member

Weston Nowlin

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