“…Varying riparian morphological traits and upland topographic characteristics have been associated to the variability in hydrological and biogeochemical functions of riparian zones. Several studies have accounted for the spatial variability of riparian zones when exploring riparian functions such as water table fluctuation (Grabs, Bishop, Laudon, Lyon, & Seibert, 2012), vertical and lateral connectivity (Leach et al, 2017;Ploum, Leach, Kuglerová, & Laudon, 2018), or water travel distance and retention of chemicals (Grabs et al, 2012;Ledesma et al, 2018;Vidon & Hill, 2004). On the other hand, riparian surface saturation dynamics have been mainly investigated by taking into account single riparian sections (Zillgens, Merz, Kirnbauer, & Tilch, 2007) or the dynamics of the riparian system as a whole (Ocampo, Oldham, Sivapalan, & Turner, 2006).…”