In these areas, it was concluded that downcutting was in response to reduced sediment supply from slopes and perhaps to reduced stream flow as a result of increasing interception by the closing (or closed) canopy forest (Peacock and Turner, 2003; Peacock and Marden, 2004).
That deprived an entire watershed of its usual supply and reduced stream flow.
And the environment would be hit very hard, Dr. Lund said, as reduced stream flows would threaten whole ecosystems.
The firm may be faced with a choice between reduced streaming rights or a cut in its hefty profit margin.
A combination of lower precipitation and high temperatures over the last three years, coupled with relatively little snow, has reduced stream flows in the region to well below normal.
The combination of low snowfall last winter and meager rainfall and warm temperatures this season has reduced stream flows to a trickle, ruined crops and scorched many landscapes this summer.
But such were the rates of acidification and salinization of soil that reduced productivity and, in the case of salinity, reduced stream quality and threatened adjacent natural ecosystems.
The most severe period of reduced stream flow occurred during the Medieval Warm Period (ca. mid-1200s CE) and persisted for ∼70 years.
Persistent drought over eastern Australia at the turn of the last millennium reduced stream flow in Australia's largest and most economically important drainage basin.
The first was the slow speed of most web connections, which reduced streamed video to a fuzzy postage stamp and made music downloads something to try the patience of saints, never mind teenagers.
