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Investigating Channel Narrowing And Nonnative Vegetation Encroachment In Three Dryland Rivers, Casey Pennock, Benjamin Miller, Phaedra Budy

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Water development and the proliferation of invasive riparian vegetation has led to widespread habitat loss and simplification of rivers in the western United States, contributing to the imperilment of native fishes. Here, we quantify channel narrowing and vegetation encroachment, which are conspicuous indicators of riverine habitat degradation, along approximately 400 km of three dryland tributaries of the upper Colorado River. To accomplish this, we conducted a comparative analysis of aerial photographs from historical (1930s) and contemporary (2010s or 2020s) time periods and utilized Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data and Object-Based Image Analysis (OBIA) to determine contemporary canopy cover of …