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Another is the fact that channelized streams are almost invariably straightened. For example, the channelization of Florida's Kissimmee River has been cited as a cause contributing to the loss of wetlands. [5] This straightening causes the streams to flow more rapidly, which can, in some instances, vastly increase soil erosion.
Meander cutoffs directly reduce and tend to indirectly reduce a river’s sinuosity, thus straightening out a river’s channel. [5] Understanding the processes that form meander cutoffs can allow one to predict how a river will evolve in the future which is important for agricultural businesses and controlling future floods.
Channel straightening and levee construction eliminate these areas of deposition, creating unfavorable conditions for riparian vegetation recruitment. By preventing overbank flooding, levees reduce the amount of water available to riparian vegetation in the floodplain, which alters the types of vegetation that can persist in these conditions. [ 2 ]
After the river channel was straightened, 40,000 acres (160 km 2) of floodplain below Lake Kissimmee dried out, reducing the quality of waterfowl habitat by ninety percent, and the number of herons, egrets and wood storks by two-thirds. Catches of largemouth bass in the river were consistently worse after the channelization.
Robinson Creek in Boonville, California, had highly eroded stream banks prior to initiation of a stream restoration project.. Stream restoration or river restoration, also sometimes referred to as river reclamation, is work conducted to improve the environmental health of a river or stream, in support of biodiversity, recreation, flood management and/or landscape development.
The degree of meandering of the channel of a river, stream, or other watercourse is measured by its sinuosity. The sinuosity of a watercourse is the ratio of the length of the channel to the straight line down-valley distance. Streams or rivers with a single channel and sinuosities of 1.5 or more are defined as meandering streams or rivers. [1] [3]
For example, a study by Simon revealed that channel incision is a major characteristic of entrenched rivers, and it affects variables in riparian vegetation and growth of fish in the areas (p. 528). Lowering of the channels means that the ground water level has also reduced.
These channels are classified as a composite form of which the individual channel belts may have braided, meandering or straight channels. Although similar to, and even encompass other channel types, anastomosed rivers are their own entity and have just begun to be studied by geologists , revealing that much is still unknown.