期刊
COMPTES RENDUS GEOSCIENCE
卷 340, 期 9-10, 页码 629-643出版社
ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1016/j.crte.2008.01.002
关键词
River; Flow; Discharge; System integrity; Riparian; Sabie River; Queers River; Environmental flows; South Africa; North America
资金
- Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
- U.S. National Science Foundation
- U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station
- Weyerhaeuser Company
We illustrate the fundamental importance of fluctuations in natural water flows to the long-term sustainability and productivity of riverine ecosystems and their riparian areas. Natural flows are characterized by temporal and spatial heterogeneity in the magnitude, frequency, duration, timing, rate of change, and predictability of discharge. These characteristics, for a specific river or a collection of rivers within a defined region, shape species life histories over evolutionary (millennial) time scales as well as structure the ecological processes and productivity of aquatic and riparian communities. Extreme events - uncommon floods or droughts - are especially important in that they either reset or alter physical and chemical conditions underpinning the long-term development of biotic communities. We present the theoretical rationale for maintaining flow variability to sustain ecological communities and processes, and illustrate the importance of flow variability in two case studies - one from a semi-arid savanna river in South Africa and the other from a temperate rainforest river in North America. We then discuss the scientific challenges of determining the discharge patterns needed for environmental sustainability in a world where rivers, increasingly harnessed for human uses, are experiencing substantially altered flow characteristics relative to their natural states. To cite this article: R.J. Naiman et al., C R. Geoscience 340 (2008). (C) 2008 Academie des sciences. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据