Dam removal provides an excellent opportunity to study how rivers respond to environmental disturbance. Despite the increasing popularity of dam removal as a river restoration approach, many ecosystem responses remain largely unknown. This RAPID project will investigate the influences of dam removal on short-term (<1.5 years) responses in channel geomorphology and aquatic- to-terrestrial flows of carbon and energy. To do this, linked aquatic-terrestrial food webs will be studied in a mid-size river in Columbus, OH, where a large, lowhead dam was recently removed. The study team is well positioned to conduct this research, having collected data in the study system three years prior to dam removal. The geomorphic influence of dam removal on aquatic-terrestrial connections, food webs, and riparian ecosystem communities represents novel research that builds on documented community shifts in fish and other aquatic biota following dam removal. The intellectual merit of the proposed work lies in establishing how the disturbance of dam removal drives linked river-riparian responses.
By advancing our understanding of the short-term effects of the disturbance of dam removal on ecosystem function, this study will contribute to efforts to maintain and/or restore rivers in human-dominated environments. The project includes involvement of undergraduate and graduate students and inclusion of study findings in The Ohio State University (OSU) coursework. Additionally, local high school students not traditionally exposed to research and STEM activities will be engaged in project research activities through an existing partnership with OSU's Upward Bound program. The study team will also deliver a dam-removal workshop run out of OSU's Shiermeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park. This workshop will address ecological consequences of dam removal and will involve the public, local watershed groups, city planners, and agency personnel.
