[1] We used a mobile bed flume with scaled grain size distribution, channel geometry, and flow to examine morphology and hydraulics of stepped channels. We hypothesized that (1) step geometry and flow resistance differs significantly as a function of the range of grain sizes present, (2) a transition from nappe to skimming flow occurs in stepped channels with mobile beds for conditions similar to stepped spillways, and (3) the partitioning of flow resistance changes significantly when flow passes from nappe to skimming conditions. Results support each of these hypotheses and help to illuminate the complexity of V-Q relationships in stepped channels, in which a dramatic decrease in flow resistance and increase in velocity accompany the transition from nappe to skimming flow near step-forming events. Therefore, a single flow resistance equation applicable to both ordinary and large floods may not be ideal in stepped channels. Nonetheless, models based on dimensionless velocity and unit discharge appear more robust compared to those based on the Darcy-Weisbach friction factor.

Connectivity describes the efficiency of material transfer between geomorphic system components such as hillslopes and rivers or longitudinal segments within a river network. Representations of geomorphic systems as networks should recognize that the compartments, links, and nodes exhibit connectivity at differing scales. The historical underpinnings of connectivity in geomorphology involve management of geomorphic systems and observations linking surface processes to landform dynamics. Current work in geomorphic connectivity emphasizes hydrological, sediment, or landscape connectivity. Signatures of connectivity can be detected using diverse indicators that vary from contemporary processes to stratigraphic records or a spatial metric such as sediment yield that encompasses geomorphic processes operating over diverse time and space scales. One approach to measuring connectivity is to determine the fundamental temporal and spatial scales for the phenomenon of interest and to make measurements at a sufficiently large multiple of the fundamental scales to capture reliably a representative sample. Another approach seeks to characterize how connectivity varies with scale, by applying the same metric over a wide range of scales or using statistical measures that characterize the frequency distributions of connectivity across scales. Identifying and measuring connectivity is useful in basic and applied geomorphic research and we explore the implications of connectivity for river management. Common themes and ideas that merit further research include; increased understanding of the importance of capturing landscape heterogeneity and connectivity patterns; the potential to use graph and network theory metrics in analyzing connectivity; the need to understand which metrics best represent the physical system and its connectivity pathways, and to apply these metrics to the validation of numerical models; and the need to recognize the importance of low levels of connectivity in some situations. We emphasize the value in evaluating boundaries between components of geomorphic systems as transition zones and examining the fluxes across them to understand landscape functioning. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Surveys of wood along 30 forested headwater stream reaches in La Selva Biological Station in north-eastern Costa Rica represent the first systematic data reported on wood loads in neotropical streams. For streams with drainage areas of 0·1-8·5 km 2 and gradients of 0·2-8%, wood load ranged from 3 to 34·7 m 3 wood/100 m channel and 41-612 m 3 wood/ha channel. These values are within the range reported for temperate streams. The variables wood diameter/flow depth, stream power, the presence of backflooding, and channel width/depth are consistently selected as significant predictors by statistical models for wood load. These variables explain half to two-thirds of the variability in wood load. These results, along with the spatial distribution of wood with respect to the thalweg, suggest that transport processes exert a greater influence on wood loads than recruitment processes. Wood appears to be more geomorphically effective in altering bed elevations in gravel-bed reaches than in reaches with coarser or finer substrate. Figure 2. Views of (A) site 11, El Surá, with slope of 5·91%, and drainage area of 3·26 km 2 ; (B) site 17, Quebrada Esquina, with slope of 3·17%, and drainage area of 1·64 km 2 ; (C) site 3, El Surá, with slope of 0·24%, and drainage area of 4·76 km 2 ; (D) site 1, Taconazo, with a slope of 0·32%, and drainage area of 0·28 km 2 .Figure 5. Box plots of wood length (A) and wood diameter (B) measured at the La Selva study reaches. The line within each box indicates the median value, box ends are the upper and lower quartile, whiskers are the 10th and 90th percentiles, and solid dots are outliers. Dark triangles indicate the active channel width in A, and half the active channel depth in B. The largest piece, located in site 1, was 43·4 m long and 150 cm in diameter (all other values fit in the plotted range).Note: Multiple R 2 = 0·632; adjusted R 2 = 0·574. VIF = variance inflation factor. Parameters included are log diameter/channel depth (β diam/d ), channel width/depth ratio (β w/d ), backflooding (β B ) and slope (β S ).

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The cumulative volume and spatial distribution of large wood (LW) along river corridors (channels and floodplains) reflect interactions between rates and volumes of LW recruitment and channel transport capacity through time. Rivers of the semiarid interior western US can have relatively low‐magnitude disturbances associated with annual snowmelt or relatively high‐magnitude disturbances associated with episodic rainfall runoff, especially following wildfires. We use characteristics of LW from 25 river segments in four regions of New Mexico and Colorado to analyze wood loads and spatial patterns of wood distribution in relation to disturbance regime. High‐magnitude disturbances move LW onto floodplains and create longitudinally nonuniform LW distributions with aggregated (closer together than random) LW pieces and abundant LW jams in the floodplain. Sites with low‐magnitude disturbances have a greater proportion of LW in the channel and much of this wood is within segregated (farther apart than random) jams. These results imply that river management, which typically focuses on LW within channels, should focus on floodplain as well as in‐channel LW in rivers with high‐magnitude disturbances. The results also indicate that the proportions of LW loads in channels versus floodplains can differ significantly among rivers with different disturbance regimes that are otherwise similar in terms of forest type or drainage area. This is particularly relevant to mountainous regions with elevation‐related changes in flow and disturbance regime. River management that reintroduces LW to river corridors will be most effective if it incorporates the mobility and spatial distribution of LW.

In recent years climate change and historic fire suppression have increased the frequency of large wildfires in the southwestern USA, motivating study of the hydrological consequences of these wildfires at point and watershed scales, typically over short periods of time. These studies have revealed that reduced soil infiltration capacity and reduced transpiration due to tree canopy combustion increase streamflow at the watershed scale. However, the degree to which these local increases in runoff propagate to larger scales-relevant to urban and agricultural water supply-remains largely unknown, particularly in semi-arid mountainous watersheds co-dominated by winter snowmelt and the North American monsoon. To address this question, we selected three New Mexico watershedsthe Jemez (1223 km 2 ), Mogollon (191 km 2 ), and Gila (4807 km 2 )-that together have been affected by over 100 wildfires since 1982. We then applied climate-driven linear models to test for effects of fire on streamflow metrics after controlling for climatic variability. Here we show that, after controlling for climatic and snowpack variability, significantly more streamflow discharged from the Gila watershed for three to five years following wildfires, consistent with increased regional water yield due to enhanced infiltration-excess overland flow and groundwater recharge at the large watershed scale. In contrast, we observed no such increase in discharge from the Jemez watershed following wildfires. Fire regimes represent a key difference between the contrasting responses of the Jemez and Gila watersheds with the latter experiencing more frequent wildfires, many caused by lightning strikes. While hydrologic dynamics at the scale of large watersheds were previously thought to be climatically dominated, these results suggest that if one fifth or more of a large watershed has been burned in the previous three to five years, significant increases in water yield can be expected.

Continued growth of the human population on Earth will increase pressure on already stressed terrestrial water resources required for drinking water, agriculture, and industry. This stress demands improved understanding of critical controls on water resource availability, particularly in water-limited regions. Mechanistic predictions of future water resource availability are needed because non-stationary conditions exist in the form of changing climatic conditions, land management paradigms, and ecological disturbance regimes. While historically ecological disturbances have been small and could be neglected relative to climatic effects, evidence is accumulating that ecological disturbances, particularly wildfire, can increase regional water availability. However, wildfire hydrologic impacts are typically estimated locally and at small spatial scales, via disparate measurement methods and analysis techniques, and outside the context of climate change projections. Consequently, the relative importance of climate change driven versus wildfire driven impacts on streamflow remains unknown across the western USA. Here we show that considering wildfire in modeling streamflow significantly improves model predictions. Mixed effects modeling attributed 2%−14% of long-term annual streamflow to wildfire effects. The importance of this wildfire-linked streamflow relative to predicted climate change-induced streamflow reductions ranged from 20%−370% of the streamflow decrease predicted to occur by 2050. The rate of post-wildfire vegetation recovery and the proportion of watershed area burned controlled the wildfire effect. Our results demonstrate that in large areas of the western USA affected by wildfire, regional predictions of future water availability are subject to greater structural uncertainty than previously thought. These results suggest that future streamflows may be underestimated in areas affected by increased prevalence of hydrologically relevant ecological disturbances such as wildfire.