River and Stream Ecosystems

This volume is a compilation of data from streams throughout the world using the templet of the River Continuum Concept (RCC) as a model for analysis. Various models have been offered to explain the structure and function of flowing water systems as holistic ecosystems, including the catchment basin in which they are found. The first widely used such model was the RCC, and despite the several modifications and adjustments that have been made to it, it continues to be a most useful model for streams in North America and in Europe. Other useful concepts include Nutrient Spiraling, Stream Patch Dynamics, Hydraulic Stream Ecology, Riparian Influence, and the newly formulated Flood Pulse Concept. Each of these offer useful corollaries to the RCC, and it is highly likely that the integration of tenants of all of these models will contribute to more meaningful generalizations of how flowing water ecosystems function. Each chapter in this book evaluates the usefulness of ecosystem level measurements in explaining the structure and function of flowing water ecosystems in a particular geographic region.
Authors examined data sets pertaining to community metabolism (primary production, respiration, etc.), macroinvertebrates (secondary production, functional groups, etc.), allochthonous inputs and fates, suspended and benthic organic matter, and vertebrates for streams of varying sizes and then synthesized this information in terms of a stream continuum. Using this approach, each chapter then evaluated the usefulness of the various ecosystem models in terms of their value in explaining the structure and function of streams in their geographic region.