Effects of a Dam Removal on River Channel Morphology and

HabitatDaniel Hayes

Michigan State University

First Note – make lettering so big it looks silly on your

computer screen

AcknowledgmentsMichigan Department of Natural ResourcesConsumers EnergyU. S. Forest Service

In class presentations, you probably won’t havean acknowledgments slide, but it is wisefor scientific presentations or presentations tothe public. You can put this near beginning orend of talk, but I prefer beginning so I can concludewith my take-home message

Dam Removal: General Issues

•Dams affect lotic systems in many ways, including

•Direct effects on habitat•Blockage of fish movement•Juxtaposition of fish communities

• Removal of dams has been used more as a tool for restoration• There are few scientific studies of effects of dam removal, however

The goal of introductory slides is to let your audience know what problem you are going to address and let them know why it is important (set up objectives!)

Objectives

1. Document changes in river channel morphology across a 9-km river reach for a 6-year period

2. Document changes in substrate composition

3. Document changes in water velocity

I prefer to have a slide that lists specific objectives of the talk – this helps provide a “roadmap” for the talk

Methods: Channel Morphology 31 permanent cross-sectional transects monitored annually since 1996 to detect changes in stream bed morphology

Methods

For our class presentations, you may needto spend quite a bit of time on methods. In scientific presentations, don’t spend much timeon methods or you won’t be able to cover your results thoroughly

Results

Some key reminders –

• Generally don’t try to present more than 3 lines per graph

• Tables should not have more than 3-4 columns and if possible no more than 5-6 rows

• In short talks like this, you can usually only get across 2-3 main points in the results section

Results

Following is an example where sequentialresults are “animated”.

Water Elevation Change

-7

-6

-5

-4

-3

-2

-1

0

1

2

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

River Distance (km)

Feet

1996-1997

Water Elevation Change

-7

-6

-5

-4

-3

-2

-1

0

1

2

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

River Distance (km)

Feet

1996-1997

1996-1998

Water Elevation Change

-7

-6

-5

-4

-3

-2

-1

0

1

2

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

River Distance (km)

Feet

1996-1997

1996-1998

1996-1999

Water Elevation Change

-7

-6

-5

-4

-3

-2

-1

0

1

2

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

River Distance (km)

Feet 1996-1997

1996-1998

1996-1999

1996-2000

Water Elevation Change

-7

-6

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-2

-1

0

1

2

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

River Distance (km)

Feet 1996-1997

1996-1998

1996-1999

1996-2000

1996-2001

• The channel in the Impacted zone has been altered as sediment is scoured away and transported downstream.

Use the summary to wrap things up and provide “take-home” message. This should tie back in with your objectives. Some folks like using a copy of theobjectives slide to guide or organize the summary

Summary

Photographs help make the talk more interesting, but may take away time. I suggest using photographs more in outreach talks to the general public, or in longer (e.g., 30-50 minute) presentations

My personal bias is to keep the background simple; spend your time on the quality and clarity of your results graphics.

Plan on approximately 1 minute per slide, on average. A 12 minute talk will likely have 12-16 slides. Slides in modeling talks often take much more than 1 minute to cover, so plan (practice) accordingly

Other Thoughts