• This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the article, which has been published in final form at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rra.933

Spatio‐temporal variability in river flow is a fundamental control on instream habitat structure and riverine ecosystem biodiversity and integrity. However, long‐term riverine ecological time‐series to test hypotheses about hydrology–ecology interactions in a broader temporal context are rare, and studies spanning multiple rivers are often limited in their temporal coverage to less than five years. To address this research gap, a unique spatio‐temporal hydroecological analysis was conducted of long‐term instream ecological responses (1990–2000) to river flow regime variability at 83 sites across England and Wales. The results demonstrate clear hydroecological associations at the national scale (all data). In addition, significant differences in ecological response are recorded between three ‘regions’ identified (RM1–3*) associated with characteristics of the flow regime. The effect of two major supra‐seasonal droughts (1990–1992 and 1996–1997) on inter‐annual (IA) variability of the LIFE scores is evident with both events showing a gradual decline before and recovery of LIFE scores after the low flow period. The instream community response to high magnitude flow regimes (1994 and 1995) is also apparent, although these associations are less striking. The results demonstrate classification of rivers into flow regime regions offers a way to help unravel complex hydroecological associations. The approach adopted herein could easily be adapted for other geographical locations, where datasets are available. Such work is imperative to understand flow regime–ecology interactions in a longer term, wider spatial context and so assess future hydroecological responses to climate change and anthropogenic modification of riverine ecosystems. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

• This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the article, which has been pub- Author for Correspondence:Wendy Monk, Canadian Rivers Institute, Department of Biology, Bag Service #45111, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, E3B 6E1, Canada. an 11-year macroinvertebrate community dataset (i.e. LIFE scores). The same 'best' models are produced using the PCA-based method and all 201 hydrological variables for two of the three river flow regime groups. However, weaker models are yielded by the PCA-based method for the remaining (flashy) river flow regime class and the whole data set (all 83 rivers). Thus, it is important to exercise caution when employing data reduction/ index redundancy approaches, as they may reject variables of ecological significance due to the assumption that the statistically dominant sources of hydrological variability are the principal drivers of, perhaps more subtle (sensitive), hydroecological associations.3 IntroductionThe ecological importance of river flow regime variability is increasingly well recognised (e.g., Clausen and Biggs, 1997;Wood and Armitage, 2004); and a wide range of potentially 'ecologically relevant' hydrological indices have been identified (e.g. Olden and Poff, 2003). However, such hydroecological analysis is limited by a general lack of paired longterm hydrological and ecological time-series (Wood et al., 2001; Jackson and Füreder, 2006). The search for 'ecologically relevant' hydrological indices has been driven by the need to quantify variability in ecological communities and/or individual populations that may be sensitive to natural hydrological changes or anthropogenic modifications (Richter et al., 1996). Some concerns have been raised regarding the large number of potential hydrological predictors available, since significant redundancy (multicollinearity) exists between many variables (Olden and Poff, 2003). Consequently, some guiding principles are required to aid researchers and water resource managers select the most 'ecologically relevant' hydrological variable(s).Olden and Poff (2003) proposed a method using principal components analysis (PCA) for assessing redundancy between hydrological variables and identifying those indices which account for most variation in river flow regimes using long-term flow records for 420 locations across the continental USA. They suggested that the variables identified by this method may form the basis of future hydroecological analysis. However, to date, their redundancy methodology and the resulting variables have not been widely tested in terms of ecological prediction.The aim of this short communication is to provide the first test of the PCA-based approach proposed by Olden and Poff (2003) in association with ecological data, and to compare its 4 effectiveness against regression models developed using 201 potentially 'ecologically relevant' hydrological variables identified in previous research. Data and methodsHydrological and ecological data were employed for 83 sites in England and Wales ( Figu...

The purpose of this study was to understand the experience of students as they progressed through three specific online graduate courses in health promotion studies delivered primarily by asynchronous computer conferencing. Focused teleconference discussions were conducted with approximately 45 students from the different courses and the transcripts subjected to qualitative analysis. Themes that emerged included what new students appreciated most when adapting to learning online, factors that contributed to learner satisfaction, and the difficulties encountered by students taking a course when the content was not as well suited to the instructional method. The findings are discussed in relation to the three components of Garrison, Anderson and Archer’s (2000) Community of Inquiry model of learning: cognitive, social and teacher presence. Implications are presented for assisting students with the process of adapting to online learning and enhancing the ‘fit’ between course content and online instructional methods.

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