The riverine ecosystem synthesis: biocomplexity in river networks across space and time

Abstract We propose an integrated, heuristic model of lotic biocomplexity across spatiotemporal scales from headwaters to large rivers. This riverine ecosystem synthesis (RES) provides a framework for understanding both broad, often discontinuous patterns along longitudinal and lateral dimensions of river networks and local ecological patterns across various temporal and smaller spatial scales. Rather than posing a completely new model, we arrange a conceptual marriage of eco‐geomorphology (ecological aspects of fluvial geomorphology) with a terrestrial landscape model describing hierarchical patch dynamics. We modify five components of this terrestrial model for lotic ecosystems: (1) nested, discontinuous…