Sediment and aquatic habitat associations in river systems:


Milhous, R. T., R. C. MacArthur, F. D. Shields, Jr., and J.
Rodger Adams.  1990.  Sediment and aquatic habitat associations
in river systems:  Results from the ASCE Task Committee on
Sediment Transport and Aquatic Habitats.  Pages 1104-1109 in
Howard H. Chang and Joseph C. Hill, editors.  Hydraulic
Engineering.  Volume 2, Proceedings, 1990 National Conference of
the Hydraulics Division of the American Society of Civil
Engineers, San Diego, California, July 30-August 3, 1990. 
Reprinted by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Environmental
Management Technical Center, Onalaska, Wisconsin, March 1993. 
EMTC 93-R008.  6 pp.  (NTIS #PB94-163425)


ABSTRACT

Sediment transport is highly variable in space and time and a
natural part of the river environment.  Important linkages exist
between sediment transport processes and riverine aquatic
habitats.  If the sediment load or bed sediment type changes,
there are usually ecological consequences.  The responses are
usually complex, long lasting, and may be beneficial or
detrimental to a given resource.  Undesirable consequences of
water projects that modify sediment size distribution or load may
be avoided or mitigated when designers know about the
relationships between aquatic habitats and sediment transport. 
Accordingly, this paper has summarized knowledge linking sediment
transport and aquatic ecology.  Often hydraulic engineers and
aquatic ecologists have dissimilar frames of reference for the
evaluation of river systems.  However, this brief report should
provide a common footing for hydraulic engineers and the
environmental community in the evaluation of streams and aquatic
habitats. 

KEYWORDS

sediment, suspended load, bed load, aquatic habitats, bed
material, benthic macroinvertebrate