Tess Wynn Thompson

Courses Taught Last Five Years

• BSE 4324/5324 Applied Fluvial Geomorphology 2015-present
• BSE 5364 Stream Restoration 2006-present
• BSE 3504 Transport Processes in Biological Systems

The primary goals of my research and teaching programs in ecological engineering are to develop the fundamental design knowledge and future engineering professionals needed to restore stream and wetland ecosystems. Healthy aquatic ecosystems provide complex ecological services, such as water purification and fisheries habitat, that cannot be replicated by technology at large scales. As such, the United Nations (UN) declared 2021-2030 the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and established the Bonn Challenge - to restore 350 million hectares of degraded ecosystems by 2030, with an estimated benefit of $170 billion/year. My efforts focus on protecting and improving small streams and associated wetlands impacted by human activities, such as urban development. These small streams make up 70-90% of the total stream miles within any watershed and play an oversized role in determining the quality of large freshwater lakes and rivers. My work includes field, laboratory, and computational studies ranging from understanding how interactions between soils, microorganisms, and plant roots reduce soil erosion to utilizing computer models of stream systems to inform statewide urban stormwater management recommendations. The results of my research are directly applicable to existing engineering design practice and environmental regulations targeted at restoring and protecting our water resources

The goal of my extension program is to improve the health of streams within and beyond Virginia. With climate change and expanding urban areas, water resources within Virginia, including the Chesapeake Bay watershed, are at risk due to urban stormwater, widespread channel erosion, and a lack of riparian buffers. Increasingly, stream restoration is used in Virginia to address stormwater impacts and to improve water quality as part of the watershed implementation plans for the Chesapeake Bay total maximum daily load (TMDL) requirements. A synthesis of stream restoration projects within the US estimated, on average, at least $1 billion was spent annually between 1990 and 2004 on stream restoration; with the development of nutrient and sediment crediting for stream restoration in 2014, the industry, and the need for professionals trained in stream restoration, has grown exponentially. My program seeks to increase awareness among individual citizens, landowners, and policy makers of what constitutes a healthy stream, how streams "work," how human actions affect stream systems, and the government policies and programs that protect streams.

Program Focus: Using a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, I am developing an outreach program to train environmental technical service providers with government agencies and non-profit organizations how to stabilize and revegetate eroding streambank along small streams on private lands.

Selected Recent Publications

(* undergraduate student, ** graduate student, *** post-doc)

• Khan, S. T., T. Wynn-Thompson, D. Sample, M. Al-Smadi, M. S. Behrouz, and A.J. Miller. 2024. Effectiveness of stormwater control measures in protecting stream channel stability. Hydrological Processes, 38(6). https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.15178
• Resop, J. P., C. Hendrix, T. Wynn-Thompson, and W.C. Hession. 2024. Channel morphology change after restoration: Drone laser scanning versus traditional surveying techniques. Hydrology, 11(4). https://doi.org/10.3390/hydrology11040054
• Smith, D.S., T.M. Wynn-Thompson, M.A. Stemler, M.A. Williams, J.R. Seiler, and W.C. Hession. (2023). Root reinforcement and extracellular products reduce streambank fluvial erosion. Science of the Total Environment, 896(February), 165125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.165125
• Smith, D.S., M. Snead, and T.M. Thompson. 2022. Soil amended with organic matter increases fluvial erosion resistance of cohesive streambank soil. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences. 127, e2021JG006723. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JG006723.
• Fox, G., Guetault, L., Castro Bolinaga, C., Allen, P., Bigham, K. A., Bonelli, S., Hunt, S.L., Kassa, K., Langendoen, E.J. Porter, E. Shafii, I., Wahl, T. and Wynn Thompson, T. 2022. Perspectives on the jet erosion test (JET): Lessons learned, challenges and opportunities in quantifying cohesive soil erodibility. Transactions of the ASABE. 65(2): 197-207. doi: 10.13031/ja.14714.
• Hickman E., T.M. Thompson, and D. Sample. 2021. Best Management Practice Fact Sheet 16: Step Pool Stormwater Conveyance, BSE-341P. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA. Available at https://www.pubs.ext.vt.edu/content/pubs_ext_vt_edu/en/BSE/BSE-341/BSE-341.html
• Mahalder, B., Schwartz, J. S., Thompson, T., Palomino, A. M., & Zirkle, J. 2021. Comparison of erodibility parameters for cohesive streambank soils between an in-situ jet test device and laboratory conduit flume. Journal of Hydraulic Engineering. 148(1):04021055. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)HY.1943-7900.0001938
• Smith, D.S., T.M. Wynn-Thompson, M.A. Williams, and J.R. Seiler. 2021. Do roots bind soil? Comparing the physical and biological role of plant roots in fluvial streambank erosion: A mini-JET study. Geomorphology, 375. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2020.107523
• Ketabchy, M., D.J. Sample, T. Wynn-Thompson, and M.N. Yazdi. 2019. Simulation of watershed-scale practices for mitigating stream thermal pollution due to urbanization. Science of The Total Environment, 671, 215–231. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.03.248
• Akinola, A.I., T. Wynn-Thompson, C. G. Olgun, S. Mostaghimi, and M. J. Eick. 2019. Fluvial erosion rate of cohesive streambanks is directly related to the difference in soil and water temperatures. Journal of Environmental Quality 48:1741-1748. doi:10.2134/jeq2018.10.0385

Oral Presentations

• Thompson, T., D.J. Smith, M. Stremler, M. Williams, J. Seiler, and W.C. Hession. 2023. Do roots bind soil? The complex role of riparian vegetation in bank stability. Presented at Stepping Up Our Efforts: Now is the Time, 29th Annual Conference of the Maryland Water Monitoring Council. Baltimore, MD, November 17, 2023.
• Thompson, T. 2023. Urbanization and stream stability. Presented at Virginia Tech Water Research Colloquium. Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, November 9-10, 2023.
• Thompson, T., D. Sample, M. Al-Smadi, S. Towsif Khan, M. Shahed Behrouz, and A. Miller. 2023. Effectiveness of Stormwater Management Practices in Protecting Stream Channel Stability. Presented at Stepping Up Our Efforts: Now is the Time, 29th Annual Conference of the Maryland Water Monitoring Council. Baltimore, MD, November 17, 2023.
• Thompson, T., D. Sample, M. Al-Smadi, S. Towsif Khan, M. Shahed Behrouz, A. Miller, and J. Butcher. 2023. Effectiveness of stormwater management practices in protecting stream channel stability. Presented at the Pooled Monitoring Forum: Restoration Research to make Science and Regulatory Connections. Baltimore, MD, June 21, 2023.
• Smith, D., T. Thompson, M. Stremler, M. Williams, J. Seiler, and W. Hession. 2023. Root reinforcement and extracellular products reduce streambank fluvial erosion. Presented at the American Ecological Engineering Society Conference. Tampa, FL. June 6-8, 2023.
• Thompson, T., D. Sample, M. Alsmadi, S. Towsif Khan, M. Shahed Behrouz, and A. Miller 2023. Effectiveness of environmental site design in protecting stream channel stability. In Proceedings: SEDHYD 2023. https://www.sedhyd.org/past/2023Proceedings/SEDHYD2023-Proceedings-Draft-060523.pdf.
• Thompson, T. 2023. Applied stormwater and stream restoration research. Presented at the Environment Virginia Symposium. Lexington, VA, March 28-30, 2023.
• Thompson, T. and B. Smith 2022. The Effect of Design and Site Characteristics on the Success of Instream Structures in Maryland. Presented at Stream Restoration 2022: Sharing Visions for the Future. Nashville, TN. August 1-3, 2022.
• Gamble, R. and T. Thompson. 2022. Effects of Spatial and Temporal Variability in Erosion Pin Measurements on Erosion Rating Curves for the BANCS Model. Presented at Stream Restoration 2022: Sharing Visions for the Future. Nashville, TN. August 1-3, 2022.
• Withers, U., and T. Thompson. 2022. Linking Stream Restoration Success with Watershed and Project Characteristics. Presented at Stream Restoration 2022: Sharing Visions for the Future. Nashville, TN. August 1-3, 2022.
• Thompson, T., D. Sample, M. Alsmadi, S. Towsif Khan, M. Shahed Behrouz, and A. Miller. 2022. Effectiveness of stormwater management practices in protecting stream channel stability. Presented at 2022 American Ecological Engineering Society Conference. Baltimore, MD. June 21-23, 2022.
• Thompson, T., D. Sample, M. Alsmadi, S. Towsif Khan, M. Shahed Behrouz, and A. Miller. 2022. Effectiveness of stormwater management practices in protecting stream channel stability. Presented at 2022 Chesapeake Bay Trust Pooled Monitoring Forum: Restoration Research to make Science and Regulatory Connections, Virtual. Baltimore, MD.
• Thompson, T., D. Sample, M. Alsmadi, S. Towsif Khan, M. Shahed Behrouz, and A. Miller. 2022. Effectiveness of stormwater management practices in protecting stream channel stability. Presented at World Environment and Water Resources Conference. Atlanta, GA. June 6-8, 2022.

Selected Recent Funding

• A case study for prioritizing stream restoration efforts in the City of Roanoke. Thompson, T., W.C. Hession, and S. Entrekin.  $68,250.  City of Roanoke.  2020-2021
  
• Effectiveness of stormwater management practices in protecting stream channel stability.  Wynn-Thompson, T., D. Sample, and A. Miller.  $177,555. Chesapeake Bay Trust.  2019 to 2020.
• Improving the success of stream restoration practices. Wynn-Thompson, T. and E.P. Smith  $217,322.  Chesapeake Bay Trust.  2019 to 2020.
• Improving the success of in-stream structures. Wynn-Thompson, T.  $88,075.  Chesapeake Bay Trust.  2015-2017.
• Badgley, B., T. Thompson, and G. Evanylo. $117,402. Opening the ‘black box’ in bioretention cells: how does understanding of microbial ecology translate to improved performance? ICTAS.  2014-2016.
• Wynn-Thompson, T. and M. Eick. $45,624 Physicochemical effects of temperature and water chemistry on streambank erosion.  Virginia Tech Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science. 2012-2013.
• Wynn, T. $76,458. Development of a Wetland Vegetation Hydraulic Properties Database Piedmont. Wetlands Research Program. 2011-2012.
• Wetland Water Budget Modeling. W.L. Daniels, T.M. Wynn, and R. Whittecar. $1,588,256. Piedmont Wetlands Research Program. 2008-2018.