Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Freshwater Biology

Volume

49

Publication Date

2004

First Page

181

Last Page

190

Abstract

The role of hydrological linkages among subsystems within catchments has received increased attention in recent years by stream ecologists and hydrologists. The groundwater/surface water interface is recognized as an important hotspot of nutrient retention and transformation, a habitat for a unique and diverse invertebrate community, and a significant contributor to ecosystem resistance and resilience to disturbance (see reviews in Jones & Holmes, 1996; Brunke & Gonser, 1997; Boulton et al., 1998; Dahm et al., 1998). The region of seasonal saturation, or that portion of the soil column that is seasonally saturated by a rising groundwater table, is recognized by wetland ecologists as an important source of water and nutrients to floods at the land surface (Bartley & Croome, 1999). This interface has received little attention by stream and groundwater ecologists, although it can supply dissolved organic matter and other solutes to both surface water and groundwater (Baker, Valett & Dahm, 2000).