Nitrogen (N) inputs to the world’s aquatic ecosystems have increased over the past 100 years. Riparian zones and other wetlands are known to remove N from ground and surface waters before they enter lakes and streams. However, the effect of riparian wetlands on water quality has been shown to differ dramatically among sites. Sources of landscape variation in riparian N dynamics have been poorly...

[1] Hydrologic connectivity between catchment upland and near stream areas is essential for the transmission of water, solutes, and nutrients to streams. However, our current understanding of the role of riparian zones in mediating landscape hydrologic connectivity and the catchment scale export of water and solutes is limited. We tested the relationship between the duration of hillslope‐ripari...

Riparian buffer zones are important for both natural and developed ecosystems throughout the world because of their ability to retain nutrients, prevent soil erosion, protect aquatic environments from excessive sedimentation, and filter pollutants. Despite their importance, the microbial community structures of riparian buffer zones remains poorly defined. Our objectives for this study were two...

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...

We studied two similar riparian sites in southern New England and examined ground water nitrate (NO~--N) removal in the subsurface of mowed (i.e., herbaceous) v . forested (i.e., woody) vegetation. Each site consisted of poorly drained, fine to medium sands and contained adjacent areas of mowed and forested vegetation. We dosed mesocosms with bromide and lSN labeled NO~-N amended ground water t...

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 ...

The side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana) is one of the most common lizards along the Colorado River corridor through the Grand Canyon (Warren and Schwalbe 1986). During our trip down the river, we saw numerous side-blotched lizards, despite the cold spring weather; they were by far the most frequently observed lizard species. Their colors were variable and bright, including shades of brown, ...

Identification of critical habitat is a key step in conservation and recovery of endangered and threatened freshwater fish. Critical habitat under Canadian and US legislation may include habitat that is not directly used by listed fish, provided it is necessary for species conservation or recovery. Riparian habitat meets biological criteria for critical habitat because riparian zones are integr...

14 USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-110. 1989. Abstract: Riparian communities established along Elder Creek, a tributary of the upper South Fork Eel River, are bounded by two frequencies of periodic flooding. The upper limit for the riparian zone occurs at bankfull stage. The lower riparian limit is associated with a more frequent stage height, called the active channel, having an exceed...

Riparian zones with extensive groundwater seeps may allow short-circuiting of groundwater to stream channels and modify groundwater contact with shallow organic soil layers in riparian areas. The controls on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) export to an Appalachian headwater stream were examined at Baldwin Creek (southwestern Pennsylvania), where baseflow is derived from multiple surface seeps. D...