You are here:
Understanding controls on flow permanence in intermittent rivers to aid ecological research: integrating meteorology, geology and land cover
Citation:
Costigan, K., K. Jaeger, C. Goss, K. Fritz, AND P. Goebel. Understanding controls on flow permanence in intermittent rivers to aid ecological research: integrating meteorology, geology and land cover. ECOHYDROLOGY. Wiley Interscience, Malden, MA, , online, (2016).
Impact/Purpose:
Provide a framework of the hydrologic, geomorphic, and land-cover controls on intermittent streamflow across different spatiotemporal scales and identify key research priorities to improve our understanding of intermittent systems so that we are better able to conserve, manage, and protect them
Description:
Intermittent rivers, those channels that periodically cease to flow, constitute over half of the total discharge of the global river network and will likely increase in their extent due to climatic shifts and/or water resources development. Burgeoning research on intermittent river ecology has documented the importance of the hydrologic, geomorphic, and land cover components of these ecosystems on structuring ecological communities but mechanisms controlling flow permanence remain poorly understood reflecting a critical gap in understanding. Here we provide a framework of the hydrologic, geomorphic, and land cover controls on intermittent streamflow across different spatiotemporal scales and identify key research priorities to improve our understanding of intermittent systems so that we are better able to conserve, manage, and protect them.
