Viewing river corridors through the lens of critical zone science

Frontiers in Water

Water

Adam S. Ward¹  Ellen Wohl²  Adam S. Wymore³  Judson W. Harvey⁴ 

[1] Department of Biological and Ecological Engineering, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, United States;Department of Geosciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, United States;Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, United States;U.S. Geological Survey, Earth System Processes Division, Reston, VA, United States;

关键词: river corridor;    critical zone;    watersheds;    floodplain;    channel;    ecosystems;    freshwater;    water resources;   

DOI  :  10.3389/frwa.2023.1147561

 received in 2023-01-18, accepted in 2023-04-27,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

River corridors integrate the active channels, geomorphic floodplain and riparian areas, and hyporheic zone while receiving inputs from the uplands and groundwater and exchanging mass and energy with the atmosphere. Here, we trace the development of the contemporary understanding of river corridors from the perspectives of geomorphology, hydrology, ecology, and biogeochemistry. We then summarize contemporary models of the river corridor along multiple axes including dimensions of space and time, disturbance regimes, connectivity, hydrochemical exchange flows, and legacy effects of humans. We explore how river corridor science can be advanced with a critical zone framework by moving beyond a primary focus on discharge-based controls toward multi-factor models that identify dominant processes and thresholds that make predictions that serve society. We then identify opportunities to investigate relationships between large-scale spatial gradients and local-scale processes, embrace that riverine processes are temporally variable and interacting, acknowledge that river corridor processes and services do not respect disciplinary boundaries and increasingly need integrated multidisciplinary investigations, and explicitly integrate humans and their management actions as part of the river corridor. We intend our review to stimulate cross-disciplinary research while recognizing that river corridors occupy a unique position on the Earth's surface.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Wymore, Ward, Wohl and Harvey.