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Application of LiDAR DEM Metrics to Estimate Road-stream Sediment Connectivity in Alberta Eastslopes Salmonid Habitats
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- Author / Creator
- Huayta Hernani, Liz Fedra
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In forest lands, through surface erosion and stream fragmentation, roads can be an important source of sediment generation and supply to streams. Disturbances on salmonid habitats and downstream values such as drinking water are considered to be one of the major concerns of road sediment pollution in streams from the east slopes of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Current models for evaluating road sediment connectivity require field data input, which is often limited for extensive areas. Therefore, in this research, I evaluated sediment connectivity from the unpaved road surface by means of LiDAR-derived DEM metrics only. Sediment connectivity modeling included two components: sediment production and sediment plume length predictions. The road slope and roughness (weighting factor) were key variables used to structure the sediment production model, and a method based on roughness and slope corridors served to estimate sediment plume traveling distance downslope. Furthermore, different roughness methods were examined with the purpose of improving sediment connectivity performance. When compared with field data, predicted results showed that sediment production normalized by the flow-directional measure of roughness based on the median absolute difference (MAD) has a good performance (r2=0.77) as well as the Standard Deviation (SD) of the Slope & Aspect roughness for sediment plume length (r2=0.64). The combination of both roughness indexes was named MSA (Mad and Slope & Aspect). Therefore, by applying MSA roughness, predictions of resource roads proximity to the streams resulted in "a lot of connection" with approximately 60% of sediment input into watercourses. The model was designed in an attempt to overcome the limitations of field data and provides insights for future studies to support salmonid habitats and stream values protection by using DEM metrics.
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- Graduation date
- Fall 2019
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- Type of Item
- Thesis
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- Degree
- Master of Science
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- License
- Permission is hereby granted to the University of Alberta Libraries to reproduce single copies of this thesis and to lend or sell such copies for private, scholarly or scientific research purposes only. Where the thesis is converted to, or otherwise made available in digital form, the University of Alberta will advise potential users of the thesis of these terms. The author reserves all other publication and other rights in association with the copyright in the thesis and, except as herein before provided, neither the thesis nor any substantial portion thereof may be printed or otherwise reproduced in any material form whatsoever without the author's prior written permission.