Influence of groundwater spring discharge on small‐scale spatial variation of an alpine stream ecosystem

Abstract The influence of groundwater discharge on aquatic ecosystems of alpine streams at the patch to reach‐scale (1–100 m) has received little attention to date. In this study, small‐scale variation was evaluated for an alpine stream in the Canadian Rockies receiving groundwater on one side from a large spring. The evaluation was based on measures of (1) spatial changes in the physico‐chemical properties that are commonly used to classify …