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The headwaters of a river are the smaller streams that feed a river, and make up the river's source. [4] These streams may be small and flow rapidly down the sides of mountains . [ 5 ] All of the land uphill of a river that feeds it with water in this way is in that river's drainage basin or watershed. [ 4 ]
Physical properties of aquatic ecosystems are determined by a combination of heat, currents, waves and other seasonal distributions of environmental conditions. [13] The morphometry of a body of water depends on the type of feature (such as a lake, river, stream, wetland, estuary etc.) and the structure of the earth surrounding the body of water.
The following unifying characteristics make the ecology of running waters unique among aquatic habitats: the flow is unidirectional, there is a state of continuous physical change, and there is a high degree of spatial and temporal heterogeneity at all scales (microhabitats), the variability between lotic systems is quite high and the biota is ...
Limnology is the study of lakes, rivers and wetlands ecosystems. It covers the biological, chemical, physical, geological, and other attributes of all inland waters (running and standing waters, both fresh and saline, natural or man-made). [51] Water resources are sources of water that are useful or potentially useful. Hydrology studies the ...
According to Vannote's hypothesis, which is based on the physical geomorphological theory, structural and functional characteristics of stream communities are selected to conform to the most probable position or mean state of the physical system. [5] As a river changes from headwaters to the lower reaches, there will be a change in the ...
The Mississippi River drainage basin with the mainstem highlighted in dark blue. In hydrology, a main stem or mainstem (also known as a trunk) is "the primary downstream segment of a river, as contrasted to its tributaries".
The Yellow River [a], also known as Huanghe, is the second-longest river in China and the sixth-longest river system on Earth, with an estimated length of 5,464 km (3,395 mi) and a watershed of 795,000 km 2 (307,000 sq mi).
The Tennessee River is a 652 mi (1,049 km) long river located in the southeastern United States in the Tennessee Valley. Flowing through the states of Tennessee , Alabama , Mississippi , Kentucky , it begins at the confluence of French Broad and Holston rivers at Knoxville , and drains into the Ohio River near Paducah, Kentucky .