A synthesis is presented highlighting the importance of hydrologic variables and dynamics to biodiversity patterns. The focus of this paper is the key hydrologic controls crucial towards quantifying the impacts of climate changes on the distribution of species. Specifically, we highlight the hydrologic controls operating on the carrying capacity, niche formation, and dispersal dynamics. This sy...

Rapid Biological Assessments (RBA’s) are used across the United States to evaluate the condition of stream health, particularly as a means to assess the effects of non-point source pollution that are not apparent in traditional water chemistry analyses. The City of Austin, Texas has been using RBA’s in urban and non-urban streams for the last six years in an effort to expand and improve its env...

Glacier National Park served as a test site for ecosystem analyses that involved a suite of integrated models embedded within a geographic information system. The goal of the exercise was to provide managers with maps that could illustrate probable shifts in vegetation, net primary production (NPP), and hydrologic responses associated with two selected climatic scenarios. The climatic scenarios...

Catchment land uses, particularly agriculture and urban uses, have long been recognized as major drivers of nutrient concentrations in surface waters. However, few simple models have been developed that relate the amount of catchment land use to downstream freshwater nutrients. Nor are existing models applicable to large numbers of freshwaters across broad spatial extents such as regions or con...

Water resources management requires the knowledge of the environmental conditions and hydrologic processes. The development of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has allowed the use of spatially and physically based hydrologic models in order to simulate the hydrology in a complicated natural system. It is very important to use such tools especially in regions with limited available data. In ...

[1] Stream hydrology strongly affects the structure of aquatic communities. Changes to air temperature and precipitation driven by increased greenhouse gas concentrations are shifting timing and volume of streamflows potentially affecting these communities. The variable infiltration capacity (VIC) macroscale hydrologic model has been employed at regional scales to describe and forecast hydrolog...

[1] The long-term (1935–1999) monthly records of temperature, precipitation, stream flow, river ice thickness, and active layer depth have been analyzed in this study to examine Lena River hydrologic regime and recent change. Remarkable hydrologic changes have been identified in this study. During the cold season (October–April), significant increases (25–90%) in stream flow and decrease in riv...

The McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDV) of Antarctica are composed of nearly 2000 km of ice-free terrain, supporting a vibrant cold desert ecosystem despite harsh conditions. The ecosystem is largely regulated by the hydrologic cycle within the MDV, which is controlled by climate dynamics. The strength and timing of connections among the hydrologic reservoirs of the MDV (atmosphere, glaciers, soils and p...