Riparian Ecology and Management in the Pacific Coastal Rain Forest

Fundamental riparian research has substantially improved watershed management on the northern Pacific coast The last two decades have seen an enormous global research effort focused on understanding the dynamics and managerial uses of riparian zones. Riparius, a Latin word meaning “belonging to the bank of a river,” refers to biotic communities living on the shores of streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, and some wetlands. Riparian zones strongly influence the organization, diversity, and dynamics of communities associated with aquatic ecosystems (Gregory et al. 1991, Décamps 1996). Riparian areas possess distinct ecological characteristics because of their interaction with the aquatic system. Thus, their boundaries can be delineated by changes in soil conditions, vegetation, and other factors that reflect this aquatic–terrestrial interaction (Naiman and Décamps 1990, 1997). Riparian zones vary widely in their physical characteristics, which are vividly expressed by an array of life history strategies and successional patterns. Consequently, these areas are among the biosphere's most complex ecological systems and also among the most important for maintaining the vitality of the landscape and its rivers (Naiman and Décamps 1990, 1997). The variability of natural riparian zones reflects the inherent physical heterogeneity of the drainage network, the processes shaping stream channels, and the characteristics of the biotic community (Figure 1). In effect, riparian biota are the products of past and present interactions among biophysical factors. In turn, the biota themselves have strong, long-term influences on the geological structures and processes that shape them.