Statement of Research:

My research is broadly focused on both basic and applied problems in watershed management and on riparian and aquatic ecosystems. My basic research focuses on the interactions between hydrological, geomorphological, and ecological processes that create, maintain, or modify aquatic and riparian habitats, and the ways in which these processes either interact with, or are affect by, land-use practices. My applied research focuses on developing models and decision support tools that synthesize the current knowledge of aquatic and riparian systems into forms that can help inform management decisions at large spatial and temporal scales.

Projects & Activities:

The Hyporheic Zone Exploring the factors that control stream-groundwater interactions and create hyporheic zones in mountain stream networks and quantifying their effects on stream ecosystem processes. Read more	Stream Temperature Monitoring and Modeling Exploring the factors controlling stream temperatures and how they respond to natural disturbance, land-use practices, both passive and active restoration, and climate change. Project summary (PDF)
Aquatic/Riparian Stream Network Modeling Integrating riparian zone mapping with state-and-transition models to project the response of riparian zones, stream channels and salmon habitat to plant succession, natural disturbance and land-use activities. Read more	Dynamics of Southwestern Plant Communities This is a long-term study, started in 1955, using permanent plots and photo points to monitor changes in the desert grasslands and piñon-juniper woodlands of Big Bend National Park, Texas. Project summary (PDF)

Selected Publications:

• Invited Commentary
  • Wondzell, S. M. 2010. Water and Sustainability: Reflections from the western United States. Northwest Science 84(3): 310-312.
  • Wondzell, S. M., Burnett, K. M., and Kline, J. D. 2007. (Introduction to the Special Issue) Landscape analysis: Projecting the effects of management and natural disturbances on forest and watershed resources of the Blue Mountains, OR, USA. Landscape and Urban Planning 80:193-197.
• Manuscripts In Review or In Preparation
  • Payn, R. A., Gooseff, M. N., McGlynn, B. L., Bencala, K. E., Wondzell, S. M. (in prep).Change from surface to subsurface control of spatial patterns in stream baseflow during a seasonal recession.
  • Wondzell, S. M. (submitted). The changing role of hyporheic exchange flows across stream networks. Submitted to HP Today, Hydrological Processes, August 2010.
  • Janisch, J. E., Wondzell, S. M., and Ehinger, W. J. (under revision). Six years of headwaters temperature monitoring: riparian buffer effectiveness in logged small catchments, Washington, USA. Submitted to Canadian Journal of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences. March, 2010.
  • Wondzell, S. M. and Gooseff, M. N. (accepted). Chapter 9.13 Geomorphic Controls on Hyporheic Exchange Across Scales – Watersheds to Particles. In: Wohl, E. (ed.) Treatise on Fluvial Geomorphology. Elsevier.
  • Zarnetske, J. P., Haggerty, R., Wondzell, S. M., and Baker, M. A. (accepted) Dynamics of Nitrate Production and Removal as a Function of Residence Time in the Hyporheic Zone: A 15N Tracer Study. Submitted to the Journal of Geophysical Research – Biogeosciences. March 2010.
• Peer-reviewed Manuscripts
  • Jencso, K. J., B. L. McGlynn, M. N. Gooseff, S. M. Wondzell, and K. E. Bencala. 2010. Hillslope hydrologic connectivity controls riparian groundwater turnover: Implications of landscape structure for catchment scale source water dynamics. Water Resources Research.
  • Wondzell, S. M., M. N. Gooseff and B. L. McGlynn. 2010. An analysis of alternative conceptual models relating hyporheic exchange flow to diel fluctuations in discharge during baseflow recession. Hydrological Processes 24: 686-694.
  • Jencso, K. J., B. L. McGlynn, M. N. Gooseff, S. M. Wondzell, and K. E. Bencala. 2009. Hydrologic Connectivity between landscapes and streams: Transferring reach and plot scale understanding to the catchment scale, Water Resources Research. W04428, doi:10.1029/2008WR007225.
  • Payn, R. A., M. N. Gooseff, B. L. McGlynn, K. E. Bencala, and S. M. Wondzell. 2009. Channel water balance and exchange with subsurface flow along a mountain headwater stream in Montana, USA. Water Resources Research 45: W11427, doi:10.1029/2008WR007644.
  • Wondzell, S. M., J. LaNier, and R. Haggerty. 2009. Evaluation of alternative groundwater flow models for simulating hyporheic exchange in a small mountain stream. Journal of Hydrology 364:142-151, doi: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2008.10.011.
  • Wondzell, S. M., J. LaNier, R. Haggerty, R. D. Woodsmith, and R. T. Edwards. 2009. Changes in hyporheic exchange flow following experimental wood removal in a small low gradient stream. Water Resources Research 45, W05406, 31 doi:10.1029/2008WR007214.
  • Houlahan, J.E., K. Cottenie, G. S. Cumming, D. J. Currie, C. S. Findlay, U. Gaedke, P. Legendre, J. J. Magnuson, B. H. McArdle, R. D. Stevens, I. P. Woiwod, S. M. Wondzell. 2008. The utility of covariances: A response to Ranta et al. Oikos 117(12): 1912-1913. DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0706.2008.17078.x.
  • Houlahan, J. E., Cottenie, K., Cumming G.S., Currie, D. J., Ernest, S. K. M., Findlay, C. S., Fuhlendorf, S. D., Gaedke, U., Legendre, P., Magnuson, J. J., McArdle, B. H., Muldavin, E. H., Noble, D., Russell, R., Stevens, R. D., Willis, T. J., Woiwod, I. P., and Wondzell, S. M. 2007. Compensatory dynamics are rare in natural ecological communities. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104:3273-3277.
  • Wondzell, S. M., Gooseff, M. N., and McGlynn, B. L. 2007. Flow velocity and the hydrologic behavior of streams during baseflow. Geophysical Research Letters 34, L24404, doi:10.1029/2007GL031256.
  • Wondzell, S. M., Hemstrom, M. A., and Bisson, P. A. 2007. Simulating riparian vegetation and aquatic habitat dynamics in response to natural and anthropogenic disturbance regimes in the Upper Grande Ronde River, Oregon, USA. Landscape and Urban Planning 80:249-267.
  • Gooseff, M. N., Anderson, J. K., Wondzell, S. M., LaNier, J., and Haggerty, R. 2006. A modeling study of hyporheic exchange pattern and sequence, size, and spacing of stream bedforms in mountain stream networks. Hydrological Processes 19:2915-2929.
  • Wondzell, S. M. 2006. Effect of morphology and discharge on hyporheic exchange flows in two small streams in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, USA. Hydrological Processes 20:267-287.
  • Anderson, J. K., Wondzell, S. M., Gooseff, M. N., and Haggerty, R. 2005. Patterns in stream longitudinal profiles and implications for hyporheic exchange flow at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, Oregon, USA. Hydrological Processes 19:2931-2949.
  • Moore, R. D. and Wondzell, S. M. 2005. Physical hydrology and the effects of forest harvesting in the Pacific Northwest: A Review. Journal of the American Water Resources Association 41:763-784.
  • Shibata, H., Sugawara, O., Toyoshima, H., Wondzell, S.M., Nakamura, F., Kasahara, T., Swanson, F.J., and Sasa, K. 2004. Nitrogen dynamics in the hyporheic zone of a forested stream during a small storm, Hokkaido, Japan. Biogeochemistry 69:83-104.
  • Gooseff, M.N., Wondzell, S.M., Haggerty, R., and Anderson, J. 2003. Comparing Transient Storage Modeling and Residence Time Distribution (RTD) Analysis in Geomorphically Varied Reaches in the Lookout Creek Basin, Oregon, USA. Advances in Water Resources 26:925-937.
  • Kasahara, T., and Wondzell, S.M. 2003. Geomorphic Controls on Hyporheic Exchange Flows in Mountain Streams. Water Resources Research 39(1), 1005, doi=10.1029/2002WR001386.
  • Wondzell, S.M., and King, J. G. 2003. Post-fire Erosional Processes: Comparing the Pacific Northwest Region to the Interior Northwest and Northern Rocky Mountain Region. Forest Ecology and Management 178:75-87.
  • Haggerty, R., Wondzell, S.M., and Johnson, M.A. 2002. Power-law residence time distribution in the hyporheic zone of a 2nd-order mountain stream. Geophysical Research Letters 29:18-1 – 18-4.
  • Wondzell, S. M. 2001. The Influence of Forest Health and Protection Treatments on Erosion and Stream Sedimentation in Forested Watersheds of Eastern Oregon and Washington. Northwest Science 75:128-140.
  • Johnson, S. L., F. J. Swanson, G. E. Grant, and S. M. Wondzell. 2000. Riparian forest disturbances by a mountain flood – the influence of floated wood. Hydrological Processes 14:3031-3050.
  • Nakamura, F., Swanson, F. J., and S. M. Wondzell. 2000. Disturbance regimes of stream and riparian systems – a disturbance-cascade perspective. Hydrological Processes 14:2849-2860.
  • Wondzell, S. M. and F. J. Swanson. 1999. Floods, Channel Change and the Hyporheic Zone. Water Resources Research 35:355-368.
  • Pinay, G., C. Ruffinoni, S. M. Wondzell, and F. Gazelle. 1998. Change in groundwater nitrate concentration in a large river floodplain: Denitrification, uptake, or mixing? The Journal of the North American Benthological Society 17:179-189.
  • Wondzell, S. M., G. L. Cunningham, and D. Bachelet. 1996. Relationships between Landforms, Geomorphic Processes, and Vegetative Communities on a Watershed in the Northern Chihuahuan Desert. Landscape Ecology 11:351-362.
  • Wondzell, S., and F. J. Swanson. 1996. Seasonal and storm dynamics of the hyporheic zone of a 4th-order mountain stream. II: Nitrogen cycling. The Journal of the North American Benthological Society 15:20-34.
  • Wondzell, S. M. and F. J. Swanson. 1996. Seasonal and storm dynamics of the hyporheic zone of a 4th-order mountain stream. I: Hydrologic processes. The Journal of the North American Benthological Society 15:3-19.
  • Wondzell, S., and J. A. Ludwig. 1995. Community Dynamics of Desert Grasslands: Influences of Climate, Landforms, and Soils. Journal of Vegetation Science 6:377-390.
  • Wondzell, S. M., G. L. Cunningham, and J. M. Cornelius. 1990. Vegetation patterns, microtopography, and soils on a Chihuahuan desert playa. Journal of Vegetation Science 1:403-410.
• Book Chapters
  • Gooseff, M. N., K. E. Bencala, and S. M. Wondzell. 2008. Chapter 18 – Solute Transport Along Stream and River Network. Pgs. 395-417, in: S. Rice, A. Roy, and B. Rhoads (Eds.) River Confluences, Tributaries and the Fluvial Network. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, U.K. 457 pp.
  • Bisson, P.A., Wondzell, S.M., Gregory, S.V., and Reeves, G.H. 2003. Trends in Using Wood to Restore Aquatic Habitats and Fish Communities in Western North American Rivers. Pgs. 391–406 In: S. V. Gregory, K. L. Boyer, and A. M. Gurnell (eds). The ecology and management of wood in world rivers. American Fisheries Society, Symposium 37, Bethesda, Maryland.
  • Wondzell, S. M. and P.A. Bisson. 2003. Influence of Wood on Aquatic Biodiversity. Pgs. 249–264 In: S. V. Gregory, K. L. Boyer, and A. M. Gurnell, editors. The ecology and management of wood in world rivers. American Fisheries Society, Symposium 37, Bethesda, Maryland.
  • Swanson, F. J., S. M. Wondzell, and G. E. Grant. 1992. Landforms, Disturbance, and Ecotones. pgs. 304-323 In: F. diCastri and A.J. Hansen (eds.) Landscape boundaries: Consequences for biotic diversity and ecological flows. Ecological Studies, Vol. #92. Springer-Verlag.
  • Bachelet, D., S. M. Wondzell, and J. F. Reynolds. 1988. A Simulation Model Using Environmental Cues to Predict Phenologies of Winter and Summer Annuals in the Northern Chihuahuan Desert. Pgs. 235-260. In: Marani, A. (Ed.) Advances in Environmental Modelling. Elsevier.
• USFS General Technical Reports and Published Proceedings
  • Gooseff, M. N., Wondzell, S. M., and McGlynn, B. L. 2008. On the Relationships Among Temporal Patterns of Evapotranspiration, Stream Flow and Riparian Water Levels in Headwater Catchments During Baseflow. International Association of HydroGeologists Congress, Toyama, Japan . Oct. 26 – Nov. 1, 2008.
  • Harris, R.M., C. Clifton, and S.M. Wondzell. 2007. Hillslope Erosion Rates in Areas with Volcanic Parent Materials and the Effects of Prescribed Fires in the Blue Mountains of Eastern Oregon and Washington, USA. Advancing the Fundamental Sciences: Proceedings of the Forest Service National Earth Sciences Conference, San Diego, CA, 18-22 October 2004. PNW-GTR-689, Portland, OR: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station.
  • Wondzell, S. M., and Howell, P. J. 2004. Chapter 6: Developing a decision support model for assessing condition and prioritizing the restoration of aquatic habitat in the interior Columbia Basin. Pgs. 73-81. in J. L. Hayes, A. A. Ager, and R. J. Barbour, Technical Editors. Methods for integrating modeling of landscape change: Interior Northwest Landscape Analysis System. PNW-GTR-610. USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, General Technical Report 610.
  • Wondzell, S. M., G. L. Cunningham, and D. Bachelet. 1987. A Hierarchical Classification of Landforms: Some Implications for Understanding Local and Regional Vegetation Dynamics. pp. 15-23. In: Strategies for Classification and Management of Native Vegetation for Food Production in Arid Zones. United States Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station, General Technical Report RM-150.
  • Ludwig, J. A., and S. M. Wondzell. 1986. Vegetation Dynamics Following Establishment of Big Bend National Park U.S.A. pp 13-15. In: P.J. Joss, P.W. Lynch, and O.B. Williams (eds.) Rangelands: A Resource Under Siege – Proceedings of the Second International Rangeland Congress, Canberra, Australia.
• Scientific Briefs and short communications
  • Parks, N. 2009. Exploring connections between landscapes and streams, based on science by Steve Wondzell, Kelsey Jensco, and Rob Payn. Science Findings #119.
  • Anjozian, L-N. 2009. Angle of Repose: Testing erosion and prescribed fire in eastern Oregon and Washington’s Blue Mountains. Joint Fire Sciences Program, Fire Science Brief #44.
  • Thompson, J. 2007. Simulating the consequences of land management, based on science by Steven Wondzell, and Pete Bisson. Science Findings #92.
  • Thompson, J. 2005. Keeping it cool: unraveling the influences on stream temperature, based on science by Sherri Johnson and Steve Wondzell. Science Findings #73.
  • Thompson, J., and Duncan, S. 2004. Following a river wherever it goes: beneath the surface of mountain streams, based on science by Steve Wondzell. Science Findings #67.