Dr Stephen Rice

B.A. (Oxford), M.Sc., Ph.D (University of British Columbia)

Reader in River Science

email: S.Rice@lboro.ac.uk
Tel : +44 (0)1509 222748
Fax: +44 (0)1509 223930

Room NN.1.24, Martin Hall building, East Park

Research Interests

I am a fluvial geomorphologist with established research interests in lotic ecology. My research combines field data collection, laboratory-based experimentation and numerical modelling at scales that range from the fluvial network to individual textural patches. There are two primary themes:

• The physical processes at work in gravel-bed rivers and the landforms and sediments that they produce;

• The role of fluvial processes in the provision, maintenance and functioning of freshwater ecosystems.

In addition to my work in the fluvial arena (sedimentary links, punctuated downstream fining, tributary significance and modelling) and on sediment sampling problems (automated photographic methods, hybrid subsurface sampling, bootstrap sampling criteria), I have developed innovative work at the interface of geomorphology and ecology (hydrodynamics of the benthiscape, the Link Discontinuity Concept, geomorphological habitat genesis).

Fuller details about grants, publications and research projects can be found on my webpage.

Recent publications (use the link above for downloads)

Rice SP and Church M. (In Press) "Grain size sorting within river bars in relation to downstream fining along a wandering channel", Sedimentology.

Graham DJ, Rollet A-J, Piegay H, Rice SP. (In Press) “Maximising the accuracy of image-based surface sediment sampling techniques”, Water Resources Research.

Rice SP, Lancaster JL, Kemp PS. (2009) “Experimentation at the interface of fluvial geomorphology, stream ecology and hydraulic engineering and the development of an effective, interdisciplinary river science”, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, Early View DOI: 10.1002/esp.1838

Church M and Rice SP. (2009) “Growth and form of gravel bars in lower Fraser River”, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 34, 1422-1432

Johnson MF, Reid I, Rice SP, Wood PJ. (2009) “Stabilisation of fine gravels by net-spinning caddis fly larvae” Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 34, 413-423

Rice SP, Church M, Wooldridge CL and Hickin, EJ. (2009) “Morphology and evolution of bars in a wandering gravel-bed river; lower Fraser River, British Columbia, Canada”, Sedimentology, 56, 709-736

Rice SP and Macklin MG (2008) “Geomorphology and Earth System Science: A reflection”, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 33, 2118-2120.

Rice SP, Roy A and Rhoads BL (Eds). (2008) River Confluences, Tributaries and the Fluvial Network. John Wiley & Sons.

Rice SP, Buffin-Bélanger T, Lancaster J and Reid I. (2008) “Movements of a macroinvertebrate (Potamophylax latipennis) across a gravel-bed substrate: effects of local hydraulics and micro-topography under increasing discharge”, in Habersack H, Piegay H and Rinaldi M (Eds), Gravel-bed rivers VI: From Process Understanding to River Restoration, Elsevier B.V. 637-660.

Haschenburger JK, Rice SP and Voight E. (2007) “Evaluation of bulk sediment sampling criteria for gravel-bed rivers”, Journal of Sedimentary Research, 77, DOI: 10.2110/jsr.2007.040, 415-423.

Rice SP, Ferguson RI and Hoey TB. (2006) “Tributary control of physical heterogeneity and biological diversity at river confluences”, Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 63, 2553-2566.

Ferguson RI, Cudden JR, Hoey TB and Rice SP. (2006) “River system discontinuities due to lateral inputs: generic styles and controls”, Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 31, 1149-1166.

Buffin-Bélanger T, Rice SP, Reid I and Lancaster J. (2006) “Spatial heterogeneity of near-bed hydraulics above a patch of river gravel”, Water Resources Research, 42, W04413, doi:10.1029/2005WR004070.

Lancaster J, Buffin-Bélanger T,Reid I and Rice SP. (2006) “Flow- and substratum-mediated movement by a stream insect”, Freshwater Biology, 51, 1053-1069.

Graham DJ, Rice SP and Reid I. (2005), “A transferable method for the automated grain sizing of river gravels”,  Water Resources Research, 41, W07020, doi:10.1029/2004WR003868.

Graham DJ, Reid I, Rice SP. (2005) “Automated sizing of coarse-grained sediments: image processing procedures”, Mathematical Geology, 37, 1-28.

Rice SP, Haschenburger JK. (2004) “A Hybrid Method for Size-Characterisation of Coarse Subsurface Fluvial Sediments”, Earth Surface Processes & Landforms, 29, 373-389.

Haschenburger JK, Rice SP. (2004) “Temporal changes in bed material texture in a gravel-bed channel with large woody debris”, Geomorphology, 60, 241-267.

Buffin-Bélanger T, Reid I, Rice SP, Chandler JH, Lancaster J. (2003) “A casting procedure for reproducing coarse-grained sedimentary surfaces” Earth Surface Processes & Landforms 28, 787-796.

Chandler JH, Buffin-Bélanger T, Rice SP, Reid I, and Graham DJ. (2003) “The accuracy of a river-bed casting system and the effectiveness of an amateur digital camera for recording river bed fabric”, Photogrammetric Record, 18, 209-223.

Rice SP, Church M. (2001) “Longitudinal profiles in simple alluvial systems”, Water Resources Research, 37, 417-426.

Rice SP, Greenwood MT, Joyce CB. (2001) “Tributaries, sediment sources and the longitudinal organisation of macroinvertebrate fauna along river systems” Canadian Journal of Fisheries & Aquatic Sciences, 58, 824-840.

Rice SP, Greenwood MT, Joyce CB. (2001) “Macroinvertebrate community changes at coarse sediment recruitment points along two gravel-bed rivers”, Water Resources Research, 37, 2793-2803.

Recent Funding

Leverhulme Trust (2000-2002) “Innovative sediment characterisation for river research and management”, Principal Investigator with Prof. I Reid (Loughborough).

NERC (2001-2003) “Hydrodynamics and macroinvertebrate use of river-bed sediment patches”, Principal Investigator with Prof. I Reid (Loughborough) and Dr. J. Lancaster (Edinburgh).

NERC (2001-2004) “Modelling the impacts of sediment inputs along gravel-bed rivers”, Principal Investigator with Prof. R Ferguson (Durham) and Prof. TB Hoey (Glasgow).

NSERC (2002-2005) “Sediment transport models for lower Fraser River: tools for sustainable management”, named collaborator with Prof. M Church (UBC), Prof. E Hickin (SFU) and Prof. R Millar (UBC).

NERC (2002-2004) “Gravel-bar dynamics - testing a 2D modelling approach”, Co-investigator with Prof. R Ferguson (PI, Durham).

NERC Airborne Remote Sensing Facility (2003) “Remotely sensed data for airborne mapping of river bed sediments”, Co-investigator with Dr JH Chandler (PI, Loughborough) and Prof. I Reid.

Gatsby Foundation Innovation Fellowship Award (2004-2005) “Innovative measurement technology for granular materials”, Co-investigator with Prof. I Reid (Loughborough) and Dr D Graham (PI, Loughborough).


Recent projects

Hydrodynamics and macroinvertebrate use of river-bed sediment patches (NERC)

Experimental investigation of the relations between the texture of sediment patches, benthic hydraulic habitat and the provision of refugia for macroinvertebrates during disturbances. Three papers are published and two are currently in preparation. Follow-on plans (NERC) include experiments that will incorporate biological factors (e.g. predation).

Modelling the impacts of sediment inputs and their ecological implications along gravel-bed rivers  (NERC)

Many river attributes are disrupted at tributary junctions and other lateral sediment sources (e.g. landslides) but our ability to predict those impacts is, at best, rudimentary. This project has developed and is testing 1-D sediment routing models that will, for the first time, provide quantitative predictions of how lateral sediment sources affect recipient channels. Two papers have been published and two papers are in preparation. Follow-on plans (NERC) focus on network-scale extensions of this modelling, particularly the ecological importance of fluvial network structures.

Sedimentology, ecology and geomorphology of compound gravel bars, Fraser River, B.C. (Royal Society, NSERC)

The genesis and development of compound bars in gravel-bed rivers is of significant sedimentological interest. The bars under examination here are additionally important because they are the local expression of anthropogenically accelerated paraglacial aggradation, with implications for the provision of salmonid habitat and flood hazard management on a river of global ecological significance. One paper is in review (Sedimentology), one paper is in preparation and two further papers are planned.


Recent PhD completions

• Natasha R. Todd-Burley (2007) An experimental study of the transport pathways of individual bedload clasts over a gravel-bed substrate

• John R. Dudley (2007) Channel form, flow and sediment transport in a step-pool stream

Current PhD students

• Julia A. Toone, Ecological implications of geomorphological discontinuities in a mixed bedrock-alluvial channel, River Drôme, France

• Matthew F. Johnson, Fine sedimentation, bed stability and macroinvertebrate activity in gravel-bed rivers

Undergraduate Teaching (C: convener)

• GYA106 Tutorials

• GYA001/101 Physical Geography (C)

• GYA006 Practising Geography

• GYB230 Earth Surface Processes and Landforms

• GYC300 River Dynamics and the Environment (C)

• GYC401 Independent Geographical Essay

• GYC500 Dissertation

• GYC903 Alpine Studies Fieldcourse (C)

Postgraduate Teaching

• GYP021 Tools for River Management (C)

• Dept coordinator for Midlands Consortium of Postgraduate Training in Physical Geography

Departmental Administration

• Chair Resources Committee

• Co-director MSc Environmental Monitoring for Management

Key External Responsibilities

• NERC Peer Review College

• Associate Editor, Sedimentology

• British Society for Geomorphology

• External Examiner, Manchester MSc in Environmental Monitoring, Modelling and Reconstruction

• Editorial Committee, Journal of Maps

Digital solutions for environmental granulometry

Along with Dr. David Graham and Prof. Ian Reid I am available to consult on sediment sampling techniques and strategies. More information about our software for determining grain size distributions from photographs (the Digital Gravelometer) is available at the Sedimetrics web site. Income from Sedimetrics is used to support my research.