Unravelling ecosystem function in anthropized streams: implications for rehabilitation

This thesis explores the impacts of anthropogenic pressures on the functioning of small, sand-bed streams in order to improve their management. This thesis confirms that reach-scale riparian restoration, opposed to catchment-scale management, mitigates excess nutrients and carbon in degraded streams, and that remnant riparian buffer strips support soil microbial communities that are beneficial for managing stream nutrient levels. This thesis also provides a first look at the impacts of invasive riparian trees on in-stream leaf litter microbiomes. Collectively, this thesis extends our understanding of how urban stream ecosystems function and presents new evidence in support of riparian restoration.