Wood jam characteristics influence but do not fully explain wood jam morphologic functions

In-stream wood jams alter their surrounding channel morphology, thus setting riverscape morphology and ecosystem function. While wood jams clearly scour pools, retain sediment, and influence bank erosion, there is a lack of observational evidence of how wood jam characteristics themselves control morphologic effects. Here, I analyzed field observations of hundreds of wood jams to test the hypothesis that wood jam characteristics can predict local morphologic effects such as sediment retention, bar forcing, and pool scour. I found mixed support for this hypothesis: while jam characteristics such as porosity, channel blockage ratio, thalweg occupation, and having rootwads and multiple trunks significantly predicted morphologic effect occurrence and magnitude, they only explained a small portion of the variance in those morphologic effects. While wood jam characteristics are relevant in controlling their overall morphologic functions, those functions are both inherently variable and likely..., , , ## Data from: Wood jam characteristics influence but do not fully explain wood jam morphologic functions

This dataset describes wood jam characteristics and morphologic effects across 6 study sites in the western United States.

## Description of the Data and file structure

Data are shown in the wood_morph_dataset.csv file. Metadata are shown in the wood_morph_dataset_metadata.csv. The Metadata describe each variable in detail. Missing data are marked as \"NA\" cells.