River Styles Framework

Professor Kirstie Fryirs
Macquarie University

Adjunct Professor Gary Brierley
Macquarie University

• state government agencies
• Australian Commonwealth Government
• local government
• community-based conservation and environmental management groups
• catchment management authorities and communities
• environmental consultancies
• environmental graduates.

• NSW Department of Industry
• NSW Department of Primary Industries
• NSW Local Land Services
• REFORM
• Australian Government Department of the Environment and Energy
• Melbourne Water
• Columbia Habitat Monitoring Program
• Alluvium
• Waikato District Council
• BMT Group
• GHD
• NSW Catchment Management Authorities
• Victorian Catchment Management Authorities
• Local Governments across Australia
• Landcare, Rivercare and Bushcare community groups

Training in the River Styles Framework is offered via a five day professional short course on analysis of river character and behaviour (for accreditation), two to three day short course on river condition and recovery potential, and one day industry-hosted workshops on introduction to fluvial geomorphology and introduction to the River Styles Framework. For further information visit www.riversyles.com. Training is offered in Australia and internationally.

Macquarie University has supported the River Styles Framework through developing its underpinning research and supporting its business activities. Multiple parts of the University have enabled the Framework by developing and delivering a value proposition to end-users. Impact is achieved largely by providing end-user training using a suite of proprietary material.

The University gave vital early funding support to the research on which the Framework is based and consistently helped the Framework to attract funding, particularly ARC Linkage grants.

Macquarie University incubated the River Styles Framework so that by 2016 the program was able to fund itself almost entirely through external revenue, primarily through professional training courses and accreditation delivered in Australia and overseas.

The River Styles Framework is founded on pure research on river forms and processes, geomorphic river responses to human-disturbance, interpretation of river evolution, condition and recovery, and forecasting river trajectories and responses to future pressures. Research on the River Styles Framework culminated in a book published by Blackwell in 2005. Two subsequent books have been published by Island Press (2008) and John Wiley and Sons (2013) and over 55 peer-reviewed journal papers relate to River Styles.

Interdisciplinary research has examined the links between fluvial geomorphology and habitat availability, riparian vegetation dynamics and river ecology. Applied research with end-users has shown how the geomorphology that underpins the River Styles Framework can be used in river management prioritisation, planning, policy and practice, and as a transformative communication tool.

The research has been conducted by Professor Gary Brierley and Professor Kirstie Fryirs and their teams. Since 2002, Professor Brierley has held full-time and Adjunct Professor roles at Macquarie University and Professor Fryirs has been full-time at Macquarie University. Four postdoctoral fellows, 10 PhD, more than 20 Masters and 25 Honours completions conducted River Styles related research from 2002 to 2016. Multiple end-user partner investigators have also undertaken, and co-published, research as part of the River Styles initiative.

Books

• Fryirs, K.A. and Brierley, G.J. 2013. Geomorphic Analysis of River Systems: An approach to Reading the Landscape. John Wiley and Sons, Chichester.
• Brierley, G.J. and Fryirs, K.A. (Eds.) 2008. River Futures: An Integrative Scientific Approach to River Repair. Island Press, Washington DC.
• Brierley, G.J. and Fryirs, K.A. 2005. Geomorphology and River Management: Applications of the River Styles Framework. Blackwell Publications, Oxford, UK.

Journal articles

• Fryirs, K.A.and Brierley, G.J. 2018. What’s in a name? A naming convention for geomorphic river types using the River Styles Framework. PLoSONE. 13(9):e0201909.
• Fryirs, K. and Brierley G.J. 2016. Assessing the geomorphic recovery potential of rivers: Forecasting future trajectories of adjustment for use in river management. WIREsWater. 3, 727-748.
• Kasprak, A., Hough-Snee, N., Beechie, T., Bouwes, N., Brierley, G., Camp, R., Fryirs, K.,Imaki, H., Jensen, M., O’Brien, G., Rosgen, D.L. and Wheaton, J.M. 2016. The Blurred Line between form and process: A comparison of stream channel classification frameworks. PLoSONE. 11(3): e0150293.
• Fryirs, K. 2015. Developing and using geomorphic condition assessments for river rehabilitation planning, implementation and monitoring. WIREs Water. 2(6), 649-667.
• Brierley, G.J., Fryirs, K., Cullum, C., Tadaki, M.Huang, H.Q. and Blue, B. 2013. Reading the landscape: Integrating the theory and practice of geomorphology to develop place-based understandings of river systems. Progress in Physical Geography. 37(5), 601-621.
• Fryirs, K. 2013. (Dis)connectivity in catchment sediment cascades: A fresh look at the sediment delivery problem. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, State of Science Series. 38, 30-46.
• Brierley, G.J., Fryirs, K., Cook, N., Outhet, D., Raine, A., Parsons, L. and Healey, M. 2011. Geomorphology in Action: Linking policy with on-the-ground actions through applications of the River Styles framework. Applied Geography, 31, 1132-1143.
• Brierley, G.J., Fryirs, K., Outhet, D., and Massey, C. 2002. Application of the River Styles framework to river management programs in New South Wales, Australia. Applied Geography, 21, 91-122.