Groundwater Surface Water Ecotones: Biological and Hydrological Interactions and Management Options (International Hydrology Series)

Aquatic ecosystems have formed the focus of several UNESCO research projects because of the impact on them of human activities such as intensification of agricultural activity, erosion and sedimentation due to irrigation projects, groundwater pollution and eutrophication. Interfaces, or ecotones, between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems were found to have an essential role in the movement of water and materials throughout the landscape. Ecotones are zones where ecological processes are more intense and resources more diversified. They are also zones which react quickly to human influences and changes of environmental variables. This volume summarises the results presented at an international conference dedicated to the study of groundwater/surface water ecotones, with contributors of international scientific reputation representing the multidisciplinary viewpoints of hydrologists, biologists and ecologists. It addresses areas of active research in hydrology and biology, and is aimed towards researchers, water resource project managers and policy makers. Cover......Page 1 Frontmatter......Page 2 Contents......Page 8 List of authors......Page 11 Preface......Page 14 I - INTRODUCTION......Page 16 1 - The groundwater/surface water ecotone perspective: state of the art......Page 18 II - FUNCTION OF GROUNDWATER / SURFACE WATER INTERFACES......Page 24 2 - Ecotonal animal assemblages; their interest for groundwater studies......Page 26 3 - Stochasticity in resource utilization by a larval chironomidae (diptera) community in the bed sediments of a gravel stream......Page 36 4 - Temporal and spatial dynamics of meiofaunal assemblages in the hyporheic interstitial of a gravel stream......Page 44 5 - Interstitial fauna along an epigean-hypogean gradient in a Rocky Mountain river......Page 52 6 - Filter effect of karstic spring ecotones on the population structure of the hypogean amphipod Niphargus virei......Page 57 7 - Community respiration in the hyporheic zone of a riffle-pool sequence......Page 66 8 - Diversity, connectivity and variability of littoral, surface water ecotones in three side arms of the Szigetköz region (Danube, Hungary)......Page 72 9 - Seasonal dynamics and storage of particulate organic matter within bed sediment of three streams with contrasted riparian vegetation and morphology......Page 83 10 - Bedsediments: Protein and POM content (RITRODAT-Lunz study area, Austria)......Page 90 11 - Dynamics and vertical distribution of particulate organic matter in river bed sediments (Morava River, Czech Republic)......Page 97 12 - Surface water/groundwater/forest alluvial ecosystems: functioning of interfaces. The case of the Rhine floodplain in Alsace (France)......Page 106 13 - Modelling of hydrological processes in a floodplain wetland......Page 117 14 - Contribution to the groundwater hydrology of the Amboseli ecosystem, Kenya......Page 126 15 - The role of hydrology in defining a groundwater ecosystem......Page 134 16 - Typology of water transport and chemical reactions in groundwater/lake ecotones......Page 142 17 - Development of a water transfer equation for a groundwater/surface water interface and use of it to forecast floods in the Yanghe Reservoir Basin......Page 150 18 - Uses and limitations of ground penetrating RADAR in two riparian systems......Page 155 III - MALFUNCTION OF GROUNDWATER / SURFACE WATER INTERFACES: CAUSES AND METHODS OF EVALUATION......Page 164 19 - Heterogeneity of groundwater-surface water ecotones......Page 166 20 - Failure of agricultural riparian buffers to protect surface waters from groundwater nitrate contamination......Page 177 21 - Stable nitrogen isotope tracing of trophic relations in food webs of river and hyporheic habitats......Page 181 22 - La zone hypodermique du sol écotone entre eaux météoriques et eaux souterraines dans l'infiltration des pesticides dissous......Page 187 23 - Soils of the north-eastern coast of the Caspian Sea as the zone of sea water/groundwater interaction......Page 193 IV - MANAGEMENT AND RESTORATION OF GROUNDWATER / SURFACE WATER INTERFACES......Page 198 24 - Ecotones and problems of their management in irrigation regions......Page 200 25 - Hydrochemistry and ecohydrology of the transition area of the Netherlands Delta and the Brabantse Wal......Page 209 26 - Cautious reforestation of a wetland after clearfelling......Page 219 27 - Responses of riparian ecosystems to dewatering of the Aral Sea in the vicinity of the Tedgen and Murgab rivers......Page 223 28 - Water regime management of desertificated ecotone systems in the Amudarya delta (Aral Sea basin)......Page 227 V - CONCLUSION......Page 234 29 - Problems and challenges in groundwater/surface water ecotone analysis......Page 236 ANNEX......Page 240 Round Table 1: Riparian vegetation and water quality improvement......Page 242 Round Table 2: Biodiversity in groundwater/surface water ecotones: central questions......Page 246 Round Table 3: Modelling of flows at the interface......Page 251 Round Table 4: Contribution of the groundwater/surface water ecotone concept to our knowledge of river ecosystem functioning......Page 253 Round Table 5: Groundwater/surface water interface and effective resource management......Page 258 Ecotones are zones where ecological processes are more intense and resources more diversified. They are also zones which react quickly to human influences and changes of environmental variables. This volume is derived from an international conference of the Ecotone project, established under the dual responsibility of the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme and the Man and Biosphere Programme, and summarizes the results of the subnetwork activities devoted to the study of groundwater/surface water interactions. The contributors were carefully selected on their international scientific reputation to represent the multidisciplinary viewpoints of hydrologists, biologists and ecologists. Topics covered include interrelationships between surface water and groundwater in riparian forests, wetlands, areas surrounding lakes and alluvial flood plains Interfaces, or ecotones, between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems have an essential role in the movement of water and materials throughout the landscape, and are zones which react quickly to human influences. This multidisciplinary volume from internationally respected hydrologists, biologists and ecologists is aimed towards researchers, water resource project managers and policy makers. January 1991 marks the official start of the joint project between the Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) and the International Hydrological Programme (IHP) of UNESCO on the role of land/inland water ecotones in landscape management and restoration.