Defining a natural feature is traditionally the domain of scientists, geographer/cartographers, and lexicographers. However, law requires exacting definitions to establish everything from land rights to jurisdictional rulings. For environmental law this can have significant ramifications in pollution regulation and mandating clean up, implying court battles when it comes to assigning (or charging for) blame. Doyle and Bernhardt confront this issue for hydrology, presenting a discussion of legal, geomorphological/physical, chemical, and biological definitions of streams and the policy implications.
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Doyle et al. (2010) studied this question.
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