Riparian Zone

A riparian zone is the strip of land that forms the interface between a river or stream and the surrounding landscape, its name drawn from the Latin ripa, meaning riverbank. It is a transitional biome built around hydrophilic plants that grow along the water's edge, and it does real ecological work: regulating hydrological processes, filtering pollutants and sediment out of runoff before it reaches the water, stabilizing banks against erosion, moderating stream temperature, and giving aquatic and semi aquatic animals both shelter and a corridor to move through. Because it sits between dry land and open water, a riparian zone touches ecology, environmental management and civil engineering alike, and it can be a natural feature or one restored and engineered for stabilization. Research has tied healthy riparian zones to measurable reductions in nitrate pollution reaching waterways from agricultural land, and to the movement of carbon between land and water ecosystems.