Publications related to Resilient Rivers - Interdisciplinary Research on Refugia, Connectivity and Stepping Stones

At what spatial scale does natural selection operate? Using multiscale frameworks to calibrate the effects of environmental factors across landscape continuums

Patterns in nature arise from processes interacting across a continuum of spatial scales, where new relationships emerge at each level of investigation. These patterns are nested features encompassing fine-scale local patterns, such as topography and geolo ...

EPFL2024

Flood, farms and credit: The role of branch banking in the era of climate change

Pejman Abedifar, Seyed Javad Kashizadeh

Using Iran's unexpected flood in April 2019 as a natural experiment, we show that local branches bridge the time gap between the disaster and governmental aids by immediately increasing their lending for two months following the flood. Analyzing proprietar ...

Elsevier2024

Climate Change Contributions to Increasing Compound Flooding Risk in New York City

Monika Feldmann

Efforts to meaningfully quantify the changes in coastal compound surge- and rainfall -driven flooding hazard associated with tropical cyclones (TCs) and extratropical cyclones (ETCs) in a warming climate have increased in recent years. Despite substantial ...

Amer Meteorological Soc2024

Twenty years of irrigation acclimation is driven by denser canopies and not by plasticity in twig- and needle-level hydraulics in a Pinus sylvestris forest

Charlotte Grossiord, Eugénie Isabelle Mas, Christoph Bachofen, Alex Tunas Corzon, Hervé Cochard, Alice Jacqueline Frédérique Gauthey

Climate change is predicted to increase atmospheric vapor pressure deficit, exacerbating soil drought, and thus enhancing tree evaporative demand and mortality. Yet, few studies have addressed the longer-term drought acclimation strategy of trees, particul ...

Oxford Univ Press2024

Regional uniqueness of tree species composition and response to forest loss and climate change

Devis Tuia, Nina Marion Aurélia Van Tiel, Loïc Pellissier

The conservation and restoration of forest ecosystems require detailed knowledge of the native plant compositions. Here, we map global forest tree composition and assess the impacts of historical forest cover loss and climate change on trees. The global oc ...

Nature Portfolio2024

The microbial genomics of glacier-fed streams: adaptations to an extreme ecosystem

Massimo Bourquin

Glacier-fed streams are the cold, ultra-oligotrophic, and unstable streams that are fed by glacial meltwater. Despite these extreme conditions, they harbour a diverse and abundant microbial diversity that develops into biofilms, covering the boulders and s ...

EPFL2024

Renaturation of urban rivers as a climate adaptation strategy Case study in Geneva, Switzerland

Emmanuel Rey, Sophie Lufkin

In a global context marked by the urgency of climate change, tangible actions towards the ecological transition are top priorities for the built environment. This paper presents the results of the “Maillages fertiles” research project, which seizes the opp ...

Wrocław University of Science and Technology Publishing House2024

The Effect of Rivers on Energy Balance at the Neighborhood Scale. A comparative analysis of four Rhodanian sites in France and Switzerland

Emmanuel Rey, Sara Sonia Formery Regazzoni, Martine Laprise, Sergi Aguacil Moreno

This research aims to compare the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of new neighbourhood projects near the Rhône River in France and Switzerland. The study considers the influence of the river on energy demand and resilience to climate change of 12 project-ba ...

Wrocław University of Science and Technology Publishing House2024

Climate risk assessment of buildings: An analysis of operating emissions of commercial offices in Australia

Arianna Brambilla

Building climate risk assessment involves benchmarking a building's energy use intensity against decarbonisation pathways to mitigate the impacts on climate change. Various climate risk assessment tools and frameworks are used for commercial buildings in d ...

Elsevier Science Sa2024

Morphological processes and potential for lacustrine delta restoration

Giovanni De Cesare, Stéphanie Joëlle André, Alexandre Philippe Louis Antoine Fourrier

Most lacustrine deltas are nowadays highly anthropized systems. River training works during past centuries considered rivers mainly as vectors of water and sediments from a point source to a sink. However, numerous problems have been identified by resident ...

2024

Mapping drivers of tropical forest loss with satellite image time series and machine learning

Devis Tuia, Jan Pisl, Marc Conrad Russwurm, Lloyd Haydn Hughes, Gaston Jean Lenczner, Jan Dirk Wegner

The rates of tropical deforestation remain high, resulting in carbon emissions, biodiversity loss, and impacts on local communities. To design effective policies to tackle this, it is necessary to know what the drivers behind deforestation are. Since drive ...

Iop Publishing Ltd2024

Embodied Carbon Premium for Cantilevers

David Michael Volpe Ruggiero, Paola Costanza Miglietta

This study addresses the critical need for sustainable architectural designs within the context of climate change and the significant role the built environment plays in greenhouse gas emissions. The focus of this paper is on understanding the influence of ...

2024

Addressing chemical pollution in biodiversity research

Kristin Schirmer, Colette vom Berg, Ahmed Tlili

Climate change, biodiversity loss, and chemical pollution are planetary-scale emergencies requiring urgent mitigation actions. As these "triple crises" are deeply interlinked, they need to be tackled in an integrative manner. However, while climate change ...

WILEY2023

Hydromorphological assessment of sediment augmentation measures in gravel-bed rivers

Christian Mörtl

In the riverine environment, the riverscape, sediment and flow regime are essential drivers for natural habitat dynamics. Today, most water courses in Europe are regulated, and their natural dynamics are impaired. Flood releases coupled with the artificial ...

EPFL2023

Enhancing Flood Resilience: Sediment Management in Le Bez Torrent

Giovanni De Cesare, Azin Amini, Romain Nathan Hippolyte Merlin Van Mol

In the canton of Bern, Switzerland, the “Le Bez” torrent is known for its flash floods, causing sediment and wood debris buildup in Villeret village settled on the alluvial fan. To mitigate this issue, a sediment/wood trap system is being implemented upstr ...

Swiss Academy of Sciences (SCNAT)2023

Simulation of fine sediment deposition on floodplains

Giovanni De Cesare, Carmelo Juez Jiménez

Rivers extend beyond the channels that are typically associated with this word. Of particular interest are flood plains, where important hydro- and morphodynamic processes occur as a result of recurrent flooding. Ecologically, they also support the establi ...

2023

Experimental modeling of fine sediment routing: SEDMIX device with thrusters

Giovanni De Cesare, Azin Amini, Montana Marshall

Reservoir sedimentation is a key challenge for storage sustainability because it causes volume loss, affecting hydropower production capacity, dam safety, and flood management. A preliminary EPFL study proposed and studied an innovative device (called SEDM ...

CRC Press/Balkema2023

Characterization of Thruster-Induced Turbulence for Fine Sediment Suspension

Giovanni De Cesare, Azin Amini, Montana Marshall, Andre Luis Stakowian

Reservoir sedimentation is a key challenge for storage sustainability because it causes volume loss, affecting hydropower production capacity, dam safety, and flood management. A preliminary EPFL study proposed and studied an innovative device (called SEDM ...

2023

Atlas Narratives of Anthropogenic Transformations across the Vietnamese Mekong Delta's Urban-Rural Territories: Water Ecosystems as Subject for the Social Ecological Transition

Sylvie Tram Nguyen

Well beyond the impact of climate change, anthropogenic modifications of the Vietnam Mekong Delta's ecosystems have resulted in environmental degradation and subsequent loss in ecosystems. The environmental impacts include but are not limited to accelerate ...

EPFL2023

Effects of water releases and sediment supply on a residual flow reach

Giovanni De Cesare, Camille Blanck, Robin Schroff

An artificial floods program has been implemented on the Sarine residual flow reach, downstream of the Rossens dam. Two artificial floods were released in 2016 (coupled with sediment augmentation) and in 2020. A natural flood occurred in 2021. The indicato ...

CRC Press/Balkema2023