29 - Problems and challenges in groundwater/surface water ecotone analysis

Summary

ABSTRACT Groundwater/surface water ecology and hydrology are relatively new areas of study that are growing rapidly. Significant points and issues identified in this book relate to a diverse array of groundwater/surface water ecotone characteristics. They include bidirectional coupled fluxes from surface and groundwater environments, high dynamicity, high heterogeneity, low predictability, biodiversity ‘hot spots’, etc. These points highlight the principal challenges facing biologists and hydrologists and managers both now and in the future. In our rapidly changing world information needs are multiple and complex, while ecotones are becoming increasingly important in the regulation of ecosystem and landscape processes.

INTRODUCTION

Research on groundwater/surface water ecotones has increased our understanding of the structure and functioning of stream, lake and groundwater ecosystems through a broader spatial perspective that takes into account the entire drainage network, and recognises that processes occurring in the surface and groundwater environments are influenced by the riparian and hyporeic zones (Amoros & Petts, 1993; Gibert et al, 1994). These zones consist of environmental and metabolic gradients of different micro- to macro-scales and thus can be seen in terms of Landscape Ecology (Holland et al, 1991; Hansen & di Castri, 1992).

This book evaluates the functioning and the role of groundwater/surface water ecotones in functional landscapes with particular reference to processes and to the implications for managing biological diversity and ecological flows. It attempts to identify a set of fundamental principles that could provide a sufficient basis for the understanding of complex transition zones and for the development of a comprehensive body of scientific knowledge for the management of the different sources of water in an overall strategic plan.