Tag Archives: Center for Integrated Research on the Environment

Gravel-bed rivers a primary ecological feature in western North American mountains region

Scientific illustration shows the complexity of organisms that benefit from gravel-bed river floodplain ecosystems - credit: Ric Hauer
Scientific illustration shows the complexity of organisms that benefit from gravel-bed river floodplain ecosystems – credit: Ric Hauer

Here’s a very interesting study led by Ric Hauer of the University of Montana. Recommended reading . . .

Gravel-bed river floodplains are some of the most ecologically important habitats in North America, according to a new study by scientists from the U.S. and Canada. Their research shows how broad valleys coming out of glaciated mountains provide highly productive and important habitat for a large diversity of aquatic, avian and terrestrial species.

This is the first interdisciplinary research at the regional scale to demonstrate the importance of gravel-bed rivers to the entire ecosystem.

University of Montana Professor Ric Hauer, director of the Center for Integrated Research on the Environment, leads a group of authors who looked at the full continuum of species and processes supported by gravel-bed rivers, from microbes to bull trout and from elk to grizzly bears.

Read more . . .