River – the bloodstream of landscape and catchment
- Authors: Ognjen Bonacci
- Citation: Acta hydrotechnica, vol. 29, no. 50, pp. 1-12, 2016.
- Abstract: Rivers are among the most important of planetary water resources. Over the past 50 years, rivers have suffered the single most intense onslaught of all planetary ecosystems. Pressures caused by human as well as natural factors on river ecosystems unstoppably increase. In orderto mitigate negative consequences, it is of crucial importance to understand the deep and complexrelationship between river morphology, hydrology and ecology. The paper treats river as a crucial partof the environment. Special attention is given to the role of riparian zone, hyporheic zone andfloodplain on ecological processes. The role of ecohydrology as a new and promising interdisciplinary scientific field is explained. Furthermore, two very different roles of floods are discussed. From one point of view, a flood represents a very dangerous and devastating event, whereas from the other, it brings many benefits particularly for ecological variability and soil fertility. Finally, the role of dams and levees is discussed.
- Keywords: river, riparian zone, hyporheic zone, floodplain, ecohydrology, dam, levee
- Full text: a29ob.pdf
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