An Ecosystem’s Lifeblood, Flowing Through Gravel

“A river doesn’t just flow down the channel,” said F. Richard Hauer, a professor of stream ecology at the University of Montana and the lead author of the paper. “It flows over and through the entire flood plain system, from valley wall to valley wall, and supports an extraordinary diversity of life…A river is a huge, huge biodiversity engine with multiple parts. If you keep taking out parts, pretty soon the engine stops.”