A global perspective on tropical montane rivers

Andrea C Encalada; Alexander S Flecker; N LeRoy Poff; Esteban Suárez; Guido A Herrera-R; Blanca Ríos-Touma; Suman Jumani; Erin I Larson; Elizabeth P Anderson

doi:10.1126/science.aax1682

A global perspective on tropical montane rivers

Science. 2019 Sep 13;365(6458):1124-1129. doi: 10.1126/science.aax1682.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Instituto BIOSFERA, Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador. [email protected].
² Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
³ Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
⁴ Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
⁵ Instituto BIOSFERA, Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Quito, Ecuador.
⁶ Department of Earth and Environment and Institute for Water and Environment, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA.
⁷ Facultad de Ingenierías y Ciencias Aplicadas, Ingeniería Ambiental, Grupo de Investigación en Biodiversidad, Medio Ambiente y Salud (BIOMAS), Universidad de las Américas, Quito, Ecuador.
⁸ Soil and Water Sciences Department, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
⁹ Department of Environmental Science, Alaska Pacific University, Anchorage, AK, USA.

PMID: 31515386
DOI: 10.1126/science.aax1682

Abstract

Tropical montane rivers (TMR) are born in tropical mountains, descend through montane forests, and feed major rivers, floodplains, and oceans. They are characterized by rapid temperature clines and varied flow disturbance regimes, both of which promote habitat heterogeneity, high biological diversity and endemism, and distinct organisms' life-history adaptations. Production, transport, and processing of sediments, nutrients, and carbon are key ecosystem processes connecting high-elevation streams with lowland floodplains, in turn influencing soil fertility and biotic productivity downstream. TMR provide key ecosystem services to hundreds of millions of people in tropical nations. In light of existing human-induced disturbances, including climate change, TMR can be used as natural model systems to examine the effects of rapid changes in abiotic drivers and their influence on biodiversity and ecosystem function.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Review

MeSH terms

Altitude*
Biodiversity
Ecosystem*
Humans
Rivers*
Tropical Climate*