CONNECTIVITY OF STREAMS AND WETLANDS TO DOWNSTREAM WATERS: AN INTEGRATED SYSTEMS FRAMEWORK.

Interest in connectivity has increased in the aquatic sciences, partly because of its relevance to the Clean Water Act. This paper has two objectives: (1) provide a framework to understand hydrological, chemical, and biological connectivity, focusing on how headwater streams and wetlands connect to and contribute to rivers; and (2) review methods to quantify hydrological and chemical connectivity. Streams and wetlands affect river structure and function by altering material and biological fluxes to the river; this depends on two factors: (1) functions within streams and wetlands that affect material fluxes; and (2) connectivity (or isolation) from streams and wetlands to rivers that allows (or prevents) material transport between systems.

Validation of rapid assessment methods to determine streamflow duration classes in the Pacific Northwest, USA.

United States Supreme Court rulings have created uncertainty regarding U.S. Clean Water Act (CWA) authority over certain waters, and established new data and analytical requirements for determining CWA jurisdiction.

Spatial and temporal patterns of dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus in surface waters of a multi-land use basin.

Research on relationships between dissolved nutrients and land-use at the watershed scale is a high priority for protecting surface water quality. We measured dissolved nitrogen (DN) and ortho-phosphorus (P) along 130 km of the Calapooia River (Oregon, USA) and 44 of its sub-basins for 3 years to test for associations with land-use. Nutrient concentrations were analyzed for spatial and seasonal patterns and for relationships with land-use and stream discharge.

Surface water and groundwater nitrogen dynamics in a well drained riparian forest within a poorly drained agricultural landscape.

The effectiveness of riparian zones in mitigating nutrient in ground and surface water depends on the climate, management, and hydrogeomorphology of a site. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of a well drained, mixed-deciduous riparian forest to buffer a river from N originating from a poorly drained grass seed cropping system. The study site was adjacent to the Calapooia River in the Willamette Valley, Oregon.