Ecohydraulics

Ecohydraulics research at the CSU Hydraulics Laboratory focuses on the interactions between flow dynamics, sediment transport, and aquatic and riparian ecosystems. We study how hydraulic conditions influence habitat availability, vegetation establishment, and ecological resilience in riverine and wetland environments. Our work bridges disciplines—combining engineering, ecology, and geomorphology—to inform the design of habitat restoration projects, environmental flow regimes, and nature-based solutions for river management.

Using a combination of physical models, numerical simulations, and field-based monitoring, we examine topics such as fish passage, vegetation-flow feedbacks, large wood dynamics, and the hydraulic functioning of restored floodplains. A central goal of our research is to quantify and predict how ecological and hydraulic processes co-evolve, enabling more effective and sustainable integration of ecological goals into water infrastructure and river corridor planning.