Floodplains: Physical Geography, Ecology and Societal Interactions [1 ed.] 9781617286087, 9781617282775

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Copyright © 2010. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Floodplains: Physical Geography, Ecology and Societal Interactions, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central,

Copyright © 2010. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Floodplains: Physical Geography, Ecology and Societal Interactions, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central,

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Copyright © 2010. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

FLOODPLAINS: PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, ECOLOGY AND SOCIETAL INTERACTIONS

No part of this digital document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means. The publisher has taken reasonable care in the preparation of this digital document, but makes no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of information contained herein. This digital document is sold with the clear understanding that the publisher is not engaged in Floodplains: Physical Geography, Ecology Societalor Interactions, Science Publishers, rendering legal,and medical any otherNova professional services.Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central,

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Floodplains: Physical Geography, Ecology and Societal Interactions, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central,

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

FLOODPLAINS: PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, ECOLOGY AND SOCIETAL INTERACTIONS

Copyright © 2010. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

MARC A. ÁLVAREZ EDITOR

Nova Science Publishers, Inc. New York

Floodplains: Physical Geography, Ecology and Societal Interactions, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central,

Copyright © 2011 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, electrostatic, magnetic, tape, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the Publisher. For permission to use material from this book please contact us: Telephone 631-231-7269; Fax 631-231-8175 Web Site: http://www.novapublishers.com NOTICE TO THE READER The Publisher has taken reasonable care in the preparation of this book, but makes no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of information contained in this book. The Publisher shall not be liable for any special, consequential, or exemplary damages resulting, in whole or in part, from the readers’ use of, or reliance upon, this material. Any parts of this book based on government reports are so indicated and copyright is claimed for those parts to the extent applicable to compilations of such works.

Copyright © 2010. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

Independent verification should be sought for any data, advice or recommendations contained in this book. In addition, no responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property arising from any methods, products, instructions, ideas or otherwise contained in this publication. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered herein. It is sold with the clear understanding that the Publisher is not engaged in rendering legal or any other professional services. If legal or any other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent person should be sought. FROM A DECLARATION OF PARTICIPANTS JOINTLY ADOPTED BY A COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION AND A COMMITTEE OF PUBLISHERS. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA Floodplains : physical geography, ecology and societal interactions / editors, Marc A. Alvarez. p. cm. Includes index. ISBN 978-1-61728- (H%RRN) 1.Floodplains. 2.Floodplain ecology. 3.Human ecology.I. Alvarez, Marc A. GB561F536 2010 577.6'6--dc22 2010016738

Published by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. †New York

Floodplains: Physical Geography, Ecology and Societal Interactions, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central,

CONTENTS

Preface Chapter 1

Water and People in the Yaere Floodplain (North Cameroon) F. Delclaux, C. Seignobos,G. Liénou and P. Genthon

Chapter 2

Designing Actions forBird Conservation at the “Yuriria” Lagoon, its Associated Floodplain and Terrestrial Habitatsin Michoacán, Mexico Leonardo Chapa-Vargas, Javier Salgado-Ortizand and Karina Monzalvo-Santos

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vii

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

The ‘Floodplain Burning’ Approach for Digital Elevation Model Processing in Flat and Flooded Areas Augusto C. V. Getirana, Otto C. Rotunno Filho, Webe J. Mansur and Marie-Paule Bonne Temporal and Spatial Variability of Water and Sediment Composition in the Middle Paraná River System María Alejandra Maine, Hernán Ricardo Hadad, Gabriela Sánchez, Sandra Caffaratti and María del Carmen Pedro Benthic Invertebrates in the Middle Paraná River Floodplain (Argentina) Florencia Zilli and Luciana Montalto

1

29

55

79

99

Flood Inundation and the TemporalDynamics of Floodplain Waterholes in an Australian Dryland River E.S.F. Medeiros and A.H. Arthington

127

Metapopulations of Decapods in the Floodplain of Parana River, South America V. Williner, F. Giri and P. Collins

179

Floodplains: Physical Geography, Ecology and Societal Interactions, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest Ebook Central,

vi Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Contents A Successful Combined Use of Telemetric Monitoring System and Spatial Data Modeling to Study the Turbidity Behavior in the Amazon Floodplain Enner H. Alcântara, Evlyn M. L. M. Novo, José L. Stech, Cláudio C. F. Barbosa , João A. Lorenzzetti, Arcilan T. Assireu, Marie P. Bonnet and Arley F. Souza

201

Characterization of Geometric Properties of Simulated Droughts and Floods of Water Bodies Dinesh Sathyamoorthy

227

Disaster-resilient Subdivision Design: Evaluating the Potential and Performance of New Urbanism for Reducing Flood Risks Mark R. Stevens, Philip R. Berke and Yan Song

249

Recent Evolution of the Jourdain River Braidplain onEspiritu Santo Island, Vanuatu James P. Terry

263

Restoration of Channelized Fluvial Systems and Their Floodplains Aaron R. Pierce

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Index

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273 303

Copyright © 2010. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

PREFACE A floodplain is a flat or nearly flat land adjacent to a stream or river that experiences occasional or periodic flooding. It includes the floodway, which consists of the stream channel and adjacent areas that carry flood flows, and the flood fringe, which are areas covered by the flood, but which do not experience a strong current. This book reviews and presents research in the study of floodplains from across the globe including water and people in the Yaere Floodplain in North Cameroon, the turbidity behavior in the Amazon floodplains, evaluating the potential and performance of New Urbanism for reducing flood risks. Chapter 1-The Yaere is one of the numerous floodplains in the flat area surrounding the Lake Chad. Each year, flooding arises from overflow of the Logomatia River, when the flow rate of the Logone River exceeds 1 500 m3/s, and propagates towards the North-West in the Yaere, generally between September and December. The Yaere is drained to the North by the El Beïd River to the Lake Chad, and subjected to an evaporation rate of nearly 2.7 m/year, while the infiltration is negligible due to clayed soils. Fishers (Kotokos, Musgums), farmers and herders (Peuls, Mbororos, Shuwa Arabs) rely on this yearly flood for their subsistence. This led to conflicts, for example due to the early arrival of pastoral nomads in the Yaere. Fishing methods change continuously and may lead to overfishing. For example, the 4 000 channels of various widths dug during the last ten years to increase fishing efficiency presently connect to the Logomatia several pond clusters, which constituted previously semipermanent water bodies. These channel networks concentrate fish and may have changed the whole hydrologic regime of the Yaere. Hydrology of the Yaere depends on the following factors: (i) local rainfall during the rainy season (nearly 500 mm in this area), (ii) the maximal flow rate of the Logone River at Bongor, which is reached after the rainy season and is governed by rainfall in the upper watershed of the Logone, near the Chad CAR boundary, (iii) anthropogenic effects resulting partly from land use changes. The build up in 1977 of the Maga dam designed for water supply to rice paddies, combined to the increased aridity during the 80’s and 90’s correspond to a decrease of flooding in the Yaere, which has been partly mitigated during the Waza-Logone project by opening additional channels connecting the Logone to the Yaere and changes of management of the dam gates. However the relative influences of the Maga dam, of the extensive rice cropping nearby and of climate changes are still subject of debate. In the Yaere region, such as in several floodplains, anthropogenic, climatic and hydrological effects are intimately linked in complex processes involving feedbacks for which the elementary mechanisms still need to be investigated.

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viii

Marc A. Álvarez

Chapter 2-Many Inland floodplain systems of Central Mexico constitute ecosystems that contribute to the long-term viability of migratory and resident birds. Our study was conducted in southwestern Guanajuato, Mexico at the “Yururia” Lagoon, a Ramsar site and a Natural Area of 15,216 ha protected at the federal level. In order to identify zones within the reserve in which different types of management actions should be implemented to protect the avifauna, and to propose management actions we applied the following methodology; we recorded birds using the method of fixed-radious point-count in the floodplain system consisting of areas covered by “Common cattail” (Typha latifolia), and in all associated terrestrial habitats including subtropical scrubland, natural grassland, secondary vegetation, and agriculture. Within the Lagoon, we recorded bird abundances through systematic observations with binoculars and a telescope from both the edge of the Lagoon, and from a boat. The authors generated a map of land use and land cover (LULC) for the reserve using a supervised classification and a Landsat TM image, in combination with points of known cover obtained in the field with a global positioning system (GPS). The authors used their LULC map to quantify habitat fragmentation, and used a geographic information system in combination with various additional thematic layers provided by the Institute for Ecology of the State of Guanajuato to define conservation zones. Subtropical scrubland and cattail habitats are highly fragmented. Overall the authors recorded 146 bird species including migrants, residents, Mexican endemics, and some listed in the Mexican list of species at risk. To minimize risks to the avifauna (deforestation, soil erosion, pollution from urban areas adjacent to the reserve, and from the use of agrochemicals, and extraction of water from the Lagoon), the following zones should be managed: 1)the conservation zone encompassing the lagoon, the associated floodplain consisting mainly of Common cattail of great importance for both migrant and breeding aquatic bird populations, and the subtropical scrubland which substantially increases overall bird diversity, 2) a buffer zone consisting of secondary habitats and agricultural lands that should be restored to protect the conservation zone, 3) an additional restoration zone consisting of highly fragmented habitats where reforestation actions could be implemented to enhance metapopulation dynamics, 4) a harvest zone in which agricultural and grazing conditions should be controlled in order to minimize impacts, and 5) a public use zone in which environmental education and alternative tourism could be promoted. Chapter 3-Extraction of hydrological information from Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) is a required step when conducting any spatially distributed hydrological modelling. In particular, automated methods are proposed to extract the drainage structure from the DEM. However, a realistic river network is not always derived from conventional DEM processing methods. Indeed, inaccuracy occurs in flat areas corresponding to floodplains. In these areas, additional sources of information are required to extract the correct drainage direction from the DEM. Over the last years, various methods regarding the use of digital land cover data to change DEMs have been reported in the literature. Usually, these methods rely on DRNs (digital river networks) or DRLNs (digital river and lake networks) to force preferential flow directions of pixels composing a DEM to get more realistic hydrological information and reduce the accumulated number of errors in the information acquisition process. In this study, it is demonstrated that traditional approaches of DEM-preprocessing such as the commonly known “stream burning” fail to provide correct maps of drainage directions and catchment areas when the extension of flat areas is large. Alternatively, a new method is proposed to take advantage of available imagery data. This method is based on a “double

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Preface

ix

DEM burning” process: DEM is first burned in the main rivers using the channel network, and then in the floodplain using the spatial distribution of floodplains provided by classified satellite images. In this sense, the method has been referred to as the floodplain burning (FB) approach. Spatial distribution of floodplains is derived from a multitemporal SAR image classification. A system of equations is used to vary the elevation offset required to be “burnt” in each cell representing the floodplain, according to the minimal distance from the channel network, which is calculated by a distance transformation. The FB approach was applied to a sub-basin located within the larger Amazon River basin. The region is characterized by large floodplain extensions. Basin delineation maps derived from the new method were compared with those obtained from the traditional stream burning method and highlighted more realistic results. Chapter 4- The physicochemical and chemical characteristics of water and sediment of representative points of the Middle Paraná River and its floodplain were analysed during a flood peak and its receding stage. Limnological parameters in water, phosphorus (P) forms (Psorb, PFe-Al, PCa, Pres), Fe, Al and Ca concentrations in sediment were evaluated. Data were analysed by principal component analyses (PCA). A downstream increasing pollution gradient was not observed in the studied rivers as determined by PCA. Contrarily, PCA showed downstream SRP (soluble reactive phosphate-phosphorus)and nitrate reduction in the Paraná River main channel suggesting retention in the floodplain. River-borne nutrients sustain a high macrophyte production within floodplain lakes. According to inorganic N to SRP ratios, P is a limiting factor for primary production. Middle Paraná floodplain environments represent a natural buffer system that partially counteracts anthropogenic nutrient loads. Highly significant correlations between sediment Fe or Al and total phosphorus (TP) (p