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Generation and application of river network analogues for use in ecology and evolution

View ORCID ProfileLuca Carraro, View ORCID ProfileEnrico Bertuzzo, View ORCID ProfileEmanuel A. Fronhofer, View ORCID ProfileReinhard Furrer, View ORCID ProfileIsabelle Gounand, Andrea Rinaldo, View ORCID ProfileFlorian Altermatt
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.02.17.948851
Luca Carraro
1Department of Aquatic Ecology, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Dübendorf, Switzerland
2Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland
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  • For correspondence: luca.carraro@eawag.ch florian.altermatt@ieu.uzh.ch
Enrico Bertuzzo
3Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, University of Venice Ca’ Foscari, Venice, Italy
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Emanuel A. Fronhofer
4ISEM, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France
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Reinhard Furrer
5Department of Mathematics and Department of Computational Science, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland
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Isabelle Gounand
1Department of Aquatic Ecology, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Dübendorf, Switzerland
2Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland
6Sorbonne Université, CNRS, UPEC, CNRS, IRD, INRA, Institut d’écologie et des sciences de l’environnement, IEES, Paris, France
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Andrea Rinaldo
7Laboratory of Ecohydrology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
8Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Padua, Padova, Italy
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Florian Altermatt
1Department of Aquatic Ecology, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Dübendorf, Switzerland
2Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zürich, Switzerland
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  • For correspondence: luca.carraro@eawag.ch florian.altermatt@ieu.uzh.ch
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Abstract

  1. Several key processes in freshwater ecology and evolution are governed by the connectivity inherent to dendritic river networks. These networks have extensively been analyzed from a geomorphological and hydrological viewpoint, yet network structures classically used in modelling have only been partially representative of the structure of real river basins, and have often failed to capture well known scaling features of real river networks. Pioneering work has identified optimal channel networks (OCNs) as spanning trees that reproduce all scaling features characteristic of real, natural stream networks worldwide. While these networks have been used to generate landscapes for studies on metapopulations, biodiversity and epidemiology, their generation has not been generally accessible.

  2. Given the increasing interest in dendritic riverine networks by ecologists and evolutionary biologists, we here present a method to generate OCNs and, to facilitate its application, we also provide the R-package OCNet. Owing to the random search process that generates OCNs, multiple network replicas spanning the same surface can be built, allowing one to perform computational experiments whose results do not depend on the particular shape of a single river network. The OCN construct also enables the generation of elevational gradients derived from the optimal network configuration, which can constitute three-dimensional landscapes for spatial studies in both terrestrial and freshwater realms. Moreover, the OCNet package provides functions that aggregate the OCN into an arbitrary number of nodes, calculate several metrics and descriptors of river networks, and draw relevant features of the network.

  3. We describe the main functionalities of the package and present how it can be integrated into other R-packages commonly used in spatial ecology. Moreover, we exemplify the generation of OCNs and discuss an application to a metapopulation model for an invasive riverine species.

  4. In conclusion, OCNet provides a powerful tool to generate and use realistic river network analogues for various applications. It thereby allows the design of spatially realistic studies in increasingly impacted ecosystems, and enhances our knowledge on spatial processes in freshwater ecology in general.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
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Posted February 18, 2020.
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Generation and application of river network analogues for use in ecology and evolution
Luca Carraro, Enrico Bertuzzo, Emanuel A. Fronhofer, Reinhard Furrer, Isabelle Gounand, Andrea Rinaldo, Florian Altermatt
bioRxiv 2020.02.17.948851; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.02.17.948851
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Generation and application of river network analogues for use in ecology and evolution
Luca Carraro, Enrico Bertuzzo, Emanuel A. Fronhofer, Reinhard Furrer, Isabelle Gounand, Andrea Rinaldo, Florian Altermatt
bioRxiv 2020.02.17.948851; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.02.17.948851

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