F1.7 Large lowland rivers

Biome: F1. Rivers and streams biome

Contributors:
(texts)

These very large rivers transport massive volumes of freshwater (>10,000m³/s) through flat lowlands, mostly in tropical or subtropical regions. Their very large flow volumes, diverse habitats and slow to moderate flows make them highly productive. High nutrient levels come from upstream catchments and floodplains, with additional productivity contributed by in-channel algae and aquatic plants. Their food webs are complex, with a high diversity of plants and animals, including large-bodied fish, reptiles and mammals.

Key Features

Large highly productive rivers with megaflow rates and complex food webs, reflecting the extent of habitat, connections with floodplains and available niches for plants, invertebrates and large vertebrates including aquatic mammals..

Overview of distribution

Tropical and subtropical lowlands, with some in temperate regions with large catchments topped by wet mountain ranges.

Profile versions

• v1.0 (2020-02-28): RT Kingsford; R Mac Nally; DA Keith
• v2.0 (2020-06-24): RT Kingsford; PS Giller; R Mac Nally; DA Keith
• v2.01 ():
• v2.1 (2022-04-06): RT Kingsford; PS Giller; R Mac Nally; DA Keith Full profile available at official site

Main references

Selected references for this functional group:

• Best, J (2019) Anthropogenic stresses on the world’s big rivers Nature Geoscience 12,7-2 DOI:10.1038/s41561-018-0262-x

• Ashworth, PJ, Lewin, J (2012) How do big rivers come to be different? Earth-Science Reviews 114, 84-107 DOI:10.1016/j.earscirev.2012.05.003

Diagrammatic assembly model

Diagrammatic assembly model of F1.7 Large lowland rivers. See general notes on diagrams. Open image full size.

Maps

Maps are indicative of global distribution patterns are not intended to represent fine-scale patterns. The maps show areas of the world containing major (coloured red) or minor occurrences (coloured yellow) of each ecosystem functional group. See general notes on maps.

There are 2 alternative versions of the indicative map for this functional group, please compare description and sources below.

F1.7.IM.orig_v2.0

Datasets

• GloRIC-1.0

Map references

• Ouellet Dallaire, C., Lehner, B., Sayre, R., Thieme, M. (2018): A multidisciplinary framework to derive global river reach classifications at high spatial resolution. Environmental Research Letters 14: 024003. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aad8e9

F1.7.web.orig_v2.0

The distribution of large lowland rivers was taken from the Global River Classification database (Ouellet Dallaire et al. 2018). Reaches with flow > 10,000 m3/s were mapped with a 20 km buffer as major occurrences, clipped to exclude those with seasonal freezing temperatures (mean temperature of coldest quarter <0°C). Open image full size.

Datasets

• GloRIC-1.0

Map references

• Ouellet Dallaire, C., Lehner, B., Sayre, R., Thieme, M. (2018): A multidisciplinary framework to derive global river reach classifications at high spatial resolution. Environmental Research Letters 14: 024003. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/aad8e9

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