Based on the interdisciplinary approaches between earth science, engineering, physical geography, ecology and management, this text focuses on the theoretical questions, case-studies, challenges, and constraints taken from river restoration. It is illustrated with reports of new ground-breaking research covering spatial and temporal scales of physical processes in river catchments, coupling catchment and fluvial processes, grain dynamics and fluvial forms and on geo-ecology and restoration in mountain gravel-bed river environments. Each chapter includes discussions and comments providing experience and feedback from the fundamental research. This book covers scales of analysis for gravel-bed rivers, physics and modeling of processes at local and point scales, sediment delivery and storage, eco-geography and eco-hydraulics, and channel management and restoration.

Table of Contents:
Introduction. Scales of analysis for gravel-bed rivers. 1. Multiple scales in rivers (M.Church). 2. Gravel-bed rivers at the reach scale (R. Ferguson). 3. Hydrodynamics of gravel-bed rivers: scale issues. (V. Nikora). Analysis of processes at point and local scales. 4. pressure- and velocity-measurements above and within a porous gravel bed at the threshold of stability (M. Detert, et al.). 5. Evaluating vertical velocities between the stream and the hyporheic zone from temperature data (I. Seydell, et al.). 6. Bifurcations in gravel-bed streams (M. Tubino, W. Bertoldi). 7. The importance of floods for bed topography and bed sediment composition: numerical modelling of Rhine bifurcation at Pannerden (E. Mosselman, K. Sloff). 8. Review of effects of large floods in resistant-boundary channels (E. Wohl). 9. Modelling river-bank-erosion processes and mass failure mechanisms: progress towards fully coupled simulations. (M.RInaldi, S.E. Darby). 10. Adjustment of the bed surface size distribution of gravel-bed rivers in response to cycled hydrographs (G. Parker, et al.). 11. Bed load transport and streambed structure in gravel streams (P. Diplas, H. Shaheen). 12. Non-stationarity of basin scale sediment delivery in response to climate change (T. J. Coulthard, et al.). 13. Changes in basin-scale sediment supply and transfer to a rapidly transformed New Zealand landscape (M. Page, et al.). 14. Two model scenarios illustrating the effects of land use and climate change on gravel riverbeds of suburban Maryland, U.S.A. (J. Pizzuto, et al.). 15. Spatial and temporal variability in stream sediment loads using examples from the Gros Ventre Range, Wyoming, USA. (S. Ryan, M. Dixon). 16. Sediment organisation along the upper Hunter River, Australia: a multivariate statistical approach (J. Hoyle, et al.). 17. The evolution of sediment waves influenced by varying capacity in heterogeneous rivers (T. Lisle). 18. Sediment storage and transport in coarse bed streams: scale considerations (M.A. Hassan, et al.). Channel change and instability. 19. Ecological responses to anthropogenic alterations of gravel-bed rivers in Japan, from floodplain river segments to the microhabitat scale: a review (F. Nakamura, et al.). 20. A review on channel morphological change in braided gravel-bed rivers: new developments from field and laboratory studies, with particular reference to the influence of riparian vegetation. (D.Murray Hicks, et al.). 22. The floods of August 22-23, 2005 in Switzerland: some facts and challenges (M. Jaeggi). 23. Reservoir operations, physical processes, and ecosystem losses (K. Jorde, et al.). 24. Movements of a macroinvertebrate (Potamophylax latipennis) across a gravel-bed substrate: effects of local hydraulics and micro-topography under increasing discharge. (S.P. Rice, et al.). 25. Hydraulic geometry of stream reaches and ecological implications (N. Lamouroux). 26. Gravel bars: a key habitat of gravel-bed rivers for vegetation (D. GIlvear, et al.). River management and restoration. 27. River restoration in the Alps and their surroundings: past experience and future challeges (H. Habersack, H. Piegay). 28. Uncertain restoration of gravel-bed rivers and the role of geomorphology (D.Sear, et al.). 29. Historical channel modification and floodplain forest decline: implications for conservation and restoration of a large floodplain river – Willamette River, Oregon (S. Gregory). 30. Restoring riverine landscapes at the Drau River: successes and deficits in the context of ecological integrity (S. Muhar, et al.).