Improvements in Understanding the Contribution of Hyporheic Zones to Biodiversity and Ecological Functioning of UK Rivers

摘要

The term 'hyporheic' literally means 'below' and 'flow' and is therefore out of sight and, until relatively recently, has also been out of mind for most stream ecologists and those engaged in river conservation in the UK. Perhaps the best and most widely used definition of the hyporheic zone (HZ) is that of Boulton et al., (.1998) who defined it as an active ecotone between the river flow and the underlying groundwater where.water flows through the substrate. However, other classic physically based definitions concern the proportion of river water and groundwater mixing, which emphasize the spatial and temporally dynamic nature of the HZ (Harvey and Bencala, 1993; Triska et al., 1993).