• DOI:10.1146/ANNUREV.ECOLSYS.30.1.51
• Corpus ID: 84464349

Streams in Mediterranean Climate Regions: Abiotic Influences and Biotic Responses to Predictable Seasonal Events

@article{Gasith1999StreamsIM,
  title={Streams in Mediterranean Climate Regions: Abiotic Influences and Biotic Responses to Predictable Seasonal Events},
  author={Avital Gasith and Vincent H. Resh},
  journal={Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics},
  year={1999},
  volume={30},
  pages={51-81}
}

• A. Gasith, V. Resh
• Published 1 November 1999
• Environmental Science, Geography
• Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics

▪ Abstract Streams in mediterranean-climate regions (areas surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, parts of western North America, parts of west and south Australia, southwestern South Africa and parts of central Chile) are physically, chemically, and biologically shaped by sequential, predictable, seasonal events of flooding and drying over an annual cycle. Correspondingly, aquatic communities undergo a yearly cycle whereby abiotic (environmental) controls that dominate during floods are reduced when the discharge declines, which is also a time when biotic controls (e.g. predation, competition) can become important. As the dry season progresses, habitat conditions become harsher; environmental pressures may again become the more important regulators of stream populations and community structure. In contrast to the synchronous input of autumn litterfall in forested temperate streams, riparian input to mediterranean-type streams is more protracted, with fall and possibly spring peaks occurring in streams in the...