Hydrodynamics of the Hyporheic Zone as a Determinant of Habitat Conditions and Growth of Water Crowfoots (Ranunculus Sp.)

Daniel Gebler; Marek Marciniak; Mateusz Grygoruk; Joanna Zalewska-Gałosz; Krzysztof Szoszkiewicz

doi:10.14746/quageo-2026-0033

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Hydrodynamics of the Hyporheic Zone as a Determinant of Habitat Conditions and Growth of Water Crowfoots (Ranunculus Sp.)

Quaestiones Geographicae

AHEAD OF PRINT

By: Daniel Gebler , Marek Marciniak , Mateusz Grygoruk , Joanna Zalewska-Gałosz and Krzysztof Szoszkiewicz

Open Access

|Aug 2026

Figures & Tables

Study sites in rivers in Poland. The coloured circles indicate the locations of the one-time survey (in 2017 or 2018), the two-time survey (in 2017 and 2018), and the three-time survey (in 2017, 2018, and 2019). The letters G and W indicate the location of the areas where detailed surveys were carried out in the Glaźna River and Warblewska Struga River.

Location of testing polygons: A and B in the Glaźna River and C and D on the Warblewska Struga River.

Comparisons of upwelling fluxes in unvegetated riverbed and within *Ranunculus* clumps.

Table 1.

The variation in filtration fluxes in the water crowfoot rivers measured in 2019.

Year	N	Upwelling flux [m³·d⁻¹·m⁻²]
Year	N	MIN	AVG	MD	MAX	SD	CV
2019	Unvegetated riverbed
	12	0.443	0.653	0.510	0.653	0.286	2.38%
	Ranunculus clump
	12	0.077	0.135	0.127	0.205	0.036	0.30%

Table 2.

Results of upwelling flux surveys carried out in 2019 in the water crowfoot rivers.

The bottom of the river	River	Polygon	Upwelling flux [m³·d⁻¹·m⁻²]
Unvegetated riverbed	Glaźna	A	0.467	0.470	0.487
	Glaźna	B	0.533	0.547	0.545
	Warblewska Struga	C	1.156	1.136	1.144
	Warblewska Struga	D	0.443	0.467	0.447
Ranunculus clump	Glaźna	A	0.137	0.147	0.140
	Glaźna	B	0.077	0.110	0.116
	Warblewska Struga	C	0.190	0.205	0.170
	Warblewska Struga	D	0.107	0.100	0.118

Table 3.

The variation of hydraulic gradient in rivers with water crowfoot vegetation measured in 2017 and 2018.

Hyporheic exchange	N		Hydraulic gradient [cm·cm⁻¹]
Hyporheic exchange	[–]	[%]	MIN	AVG	MD	MAX	SD	CV [%]
2017
Upwelling	63	67.0	0.005	0.0538	0.0400	0.2700	0.0569	105.7
Neutral	8	8.5
Downwelling	23	24.5	–0.245	–0.0660	–0.0350	–0.0050	0.0750	–113.6
2018
Upwelling	99	70.2	0.005	0.0490	0.0350	0.3150	0.0440	91.5
Neutral	5	3.6
Downwelling	37	26.2	–0.550	–0.0800	–0.0250	–0.0050	0.1420	–177.0

Results of gradientometric measurements recorded in 2019 in the unvegetated riverbed (yellow) and *Ranunculus* clumps (green).

Table 4.

Measured in 2019, the range of variation of hydraulic gradient in rivers with water crowfoot vegetation.

Hyporheic exchange	N		Hydraulic gradient [cm·cm⁻¹]
Hyporheic exchange	[–]	[%]	MIN	AVG	MD	MAX	SD	CV [%]
2019 Unvegetated riverbed
Upwelling	54	87.1	0.005	0.052	0.053	0.145	0.0341	65.7
Neutral	0	0.0
Downwelling	8	12.9	–0.040	–0.017	–0.018	–0.005	0.0106	–62.7
2019 Ranunculus clump
Upwelling	35	85.4	0.005	0.048	0.040	0.110	0.0285	59.7
Neutral	0	0.0
Downwelling	6	14.6	–0.035	–0.013	–0.010	–0.005	0.0103	–77.1

Table 5.

Results of vertical hydraulic gradient studies conducted in 2019 in rivers with water crowfoot (white colour – unvegetated riverbed, green colour – Ranunculus clamps).

River	Field-site	Cross-section	Hydraulic gradient [cm·cm⁻¹]
Glaźna	A	A1	0.025	0.040	0.140	0.060	0.065	0.050
		A2	0.080	0.100	0.085	0.070	0.075	0.065
		A3	0.055	0.035	0.055	0.060	0.015	0.135
		A4	0.060	0.015	0.005	0.015	0.010
		A5	0.080	0.110	0.075	0.115	0.015	–0.020
	B	B1	–0.040	–0.005	–0.005
		B2	0.045	0.010	0.040	0.015	–0.005
		B3	0.025	0.010	0.030	0.010	–0.020	0.035
		B4	–0.010	0.075	–0.015	0.020	0.005	–0.010
		B5	0.100	0.070	–0.015	0.045	0.055	–0.005
Warblewska Struga	C	C1	–0.020	0.075	0.005	0.050	0.010
		C2	0.050	0.030	0.050	0.030	0.025
		C3	0.055	0.020	0.055	0.080	0.025
		C4	0.055	0.080	0.045	0.055	0.020
	D	D1	0.050	0.035	0.055
		D2	0.100	0.070	–0.035	0.110	0.100	0.040
		D3	0.145	0.035	0.085	0.040	0.060	0.035
		D4	0.020	0.055	0.030	0.060

Results of filtrometric and gradientometric surveys carried out in 2019 at cross-sections A1, A2, A3, A4, and A5 and cross-sections B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, perpendicular to the current of the Glaźna River.

Results of filtrometric and gradientometric surveys carried out in 2019, at cross-sections C1, C2, C3, C4 and at cross-sections D1, D2, D3, D4, perpendicular to the Warblewska Struga river current.

Grain size curves of substrate samples taken from the test plots on the Glaźna and Warblewska Struga rivers.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.14746/quageo-2026-0033 | Journal eISSN: 2081-6383 | Journal ISSN: 2082-2103 (formerly 0137-477X)

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Language: English

Submitted on: Mar 4, 2025

Published on: Aug 27, 2026

Published by: Adam Mickiewicz University

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

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© 2026 Daniel Gebler, Marek Marciniak, Mateusz Grygoruk, Joanna Zalewska-Gałosz, Krzysztof Szoszkiewicz, published by Adam Mickiewicz University
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

AHEAD OF PRINT

Hydrodynamics of the Hyporheic Zone as a Determinant of Habitat Conditions and Growth of Water Crowfoots (Ranunculus Sp.)

Figures & Tables

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2.

Fig. 3.

Fig. 4.

Table 1.

Table 2.

Table 3.

Fig. 5.

Table 4.

Table 5.

Fig. 6.

Fig. 7.

Fig. 8.

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