Numerous conceptual models incorporate some or all of these basic concepts (e.g., Bull, 1991, Simon and Rinaldi, 2006, Wohl, 2010 and Chin et al.,

in press): in this section, I focus on the basic concepts. Connectivity is used to describe multiple aspects of fluxes of matter, energy and organisms (Fig. 1). Hydrologic connectivity refers to the movement of water, such as down a hillslope in the surface and/or subsurface, from hillslopes into channels, or along a river network (Pringle, 2001 and Bracken and Croke, 2007). Sediment connectivity describes the movement or storage of sediment down hillslopes, into channels, along river networks, and Selleckchem CCI 779 so forth (Fryirs et al., 2007). River connectivity refers to water-mediated selleck compound fluxes within a river network (Ward, 1997). Biological connectivity describes the ability of organisms or plant propagules to disperse between suitable habitats or between isolated populations for breeding (Merriam, 1984). Landscape connectivity refers to the movement of water, sediment, or other materials between individual landforms (Brierley et al., 2006). Structural connectivity characterizes the extent

to which landscape units, which can range in scale from <1 m for bunchgrasses dispersed across exposed soil to the configuration of hillslopes and valley bottoms across thousands of meters, are physically linked to one another (Wainwright et al., 2011). Functional connectivity describes Carnitine dehydrogenase process-specific interactions between multiple structural characteristics, such as runoff and sediment moving downslope between the bunchgrasses and exposed soil patches (Wainwright et al., 2011). Any of these forms of connectivity can be described in terms of spatial extent, which partly depends on temporal variability. River connectivity, for example, fluctuates through time as discharge fluctuates, just as functional

connectivity along a hillslope fluctuates through time in response to precipitation (Wainwright et al., 2011). Connectivity can also be used to describe social components. The terms multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, holistic, and integrative, as applied to research or management, all refer to disciplinary connectivity, or the ability to convey information originating in different scholarly disciplines, the incorporation of different disciplinary perspectives, and the recognition that critical zone processes transcend any particular scholarly discipline. Beyond the fact that the characteristics of connectivity critically influence process and form in the critical zone, the specifics of connectivity can be used to understand how past human manipulations have altered a particular landscape or ecosystem, and how future manipulations might be used to restore desired system traits. This approach is exemplified by the connectivity diagrams for rivers in Kondolf et al. (2006) (Fig. 2).