Hydrology and biota interactions as driving forces for ecosystem functioning

This chapter examines the interactions between biologic and hydrologic processes in estuarine and nearshore coastal ecosystems, and their relevance to ecosystem functioning. The role of specific hydrologic variables and processes upon key functional groups of organisms (phytoplankton, heterotrophic bacteria, holozooplankton, merozooplankton, benthos, and nekton) is addressed considering both bottom-up and top-down effects. The impact of biologic processes on relevant hydrologic features, including dissolved gases, inorganic nutrients, organic matter, chemical and biological contaminants, turbidity, and water flow, is then evaluated. Biologic-and hydrologic-driven changes are integrated, specifying how they reverberate into ecosystem functioning over different spatial and temporal scales.