Abstract (from http://www.springerplus.com/content/3/1/589): The growing quality and availability of spatial map layers (e.g., climate, geology, and land use) allow stream studies, which historically have occurred over small areas like a single watershed or stream reach, to increasingly explore questions from a landscape perspective. This large-scale perspective for fluvial studies depends on the ability to characterize influences on streams resulting from throughout entire upstream networks or catchments. While acquiring upstream information for a single reach is relatively straight-forward, this process becomes demanding when attempting to obtain summaries for all streams throughout a stream network and across large basins. Additionally, [...]
