Microclimate variables such as air temperature and relative humidity influence habitat conditions and ecological processes in riparian forests. The increased relative humidity levels within riparian areas are essential for many plant and wildlife species. Information about relative humidity patterns within riparian areas and adjacent uplands are necessary for the prescription of effective buffe...

This paper describes a comprehensive stream-riparian modeling system to evaluate the effects of channel-riparian zones on stream Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs). Nonpoint source pollutants emanating from agricultural fields are major contributors to the ecological impairment of stream channels. Nutrients and sediments are the principle sources of surface water impairment. The edge-of-field sy...

In the European Union, mitigation measures to abate diffuse pollution from agricultural land are implemented under the direction of the EU Nitrates and Water Framework Directives. As these measures are implemented in national policies, a review process will look at the efficacy of the measures with a view to recommending further measures as necessary. This study examines the willingness of farm...

Riparian Zones are considered biodiversity and ecosystem services hotspots. In arid environments, these ecosystems represent key habitats, since water availability makes them unique in terms of fauna, flora and ecological processes. Simple yet powerful remote sensing techniques were used to assess how spatial and temporal land cover dynamics, and water depth reflect distribution of key land cov...

The present study was conducted in 47 different riparian areas distributed throughout Denmark to investigate diversity and distributional patterns of plant communities along a lowland stream size gradient (first to fifth order). The investigated areas were representative for Danish riparian areas not in use for agricultural production. We investigated plant community richness along a stream siz...

The fruit-feeding guild of nymphalid butterflies was sampled at the Firestone Center for Restoration Ecology (FCRE) in southwestern Costa Rica to investigate the effects of four habitat types on species-richness. Species-richness was expected to differ among riparian forest, secondary forest, bamboo forest and pastureland. Over two years and 53 sampling days, 1456 fruit-feeding nymphalid butter...

Ecologists are beginning to recognize the effect of heterogeneity on structure and function in arid and semiarid ecosystems. Additionally, the influences of temperature on ecosystems are widely documented, but landscape temperature patterns and relationships with vegetation are rarely reported in ecological studies. To better understand the importance of temperature patterns to the conservation...

Streams and their riparian zones provide typical examples of naturally speciesrich, dynamic habitats. Under natural conditions, spatial and temporal variation in flooding disturbance coincide with a strong hydrological gradient from the channel to the uplands, generating a heterogeneous environment with corresponding high plant and animal diversity. Yet, streams and their riparian zones are hig...

Riparian buffers are commonly promoted to protect stream water quality. A common conceptual assumption is that buffers “intercept” and treat upland runoff. As a shift in paradigm, it is proposed instead that riparian buffers should be recognized as the parts of the landscape that most frequently generate storm runoff. Thus, water quality can be protected from contaminated storm runoff by disass...

It is widely recognised that riparian zones can greatly reduce the movement of pollutants from hillslopes into streams. While several indices of stream condition exist, the spatial distribution of the pollutant and runoff trapping functions of the riparian zone remains poorly understood. This paper describes three indices, which quantify the spatial distribution of riparian zones that function ...