Eco-geomorphology: an interdisciplinary approach to river science

Abstract

Eco-geomorphology is an interdisciplinary approach to the study of river systems that integrates hydrology, fluvial geomorphology and ecology. This approach facilitates a new understanding of river systems by bridging dominant paradigms from individual disciplines. Each discipline views river systems from a spatial and temporal perspective, but we suggest that one of the main impediments to further expansion of intterdisciplinary study is the mismatch of scales between disciplines. A hierarchical and integrative framework for interdisciplinary study is required and would overcomes scale issues by matching a problem with a river system process to identify causal explanations at the correct spatial and temporal scales. We use the example of enviromnental flows to demonstrate the utility of an eco-geomorphological approach for identification of characteristic scales of hydrological, geomorphological and ecological influence in the Condamine-Balonne River.