Advancing ecohydraulics and ecohydrology by clarifying the role of their component interdisciplines

Abstract

Increasing awareness of the complexity of river ecosystems has led to the emergence of integrative disciplines that combine topics in river physical and ecological processes, exemplified by the disciplines of ecohydrology, hydroecology and ecohydraulics. However, the names of these disciplines are often referred to interchangeably without attention paid to their meaning. This ambiguity impairs the efficient development and widespread promotion of these fields of study and their applications. To address this issue, we strive to clarify the definitions and contributions of the different disciplines. This is done by exploring their interrelationships and providing a reference for the integration of disciplines in these evolving fields. Finally, we advocate for ecohydrology and ecohydraulics to be considered complementary, and not duplicative, disciplines within river science. We further argue that awareness of their similarities and differences is important to address key issues in river science and to ensure ecohydraulics finds its positioning with respect to other disciplines, as well as current and emerging societal and scientific challenges, such as climate change.

Keywords:

• Ecohydraulics
• ecohydrology
• river
• scale
• e-flows
• multidisciplinary

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Dr Jeffrey Tuhtan from Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia, for his useful comments in the finalizing phase of this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Estonian Research Council grants IUT-339 and PUT-1690 Bioinspired Flow Sensing.