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My hypothesis touches on the effect of a stream on species richness primarily, but could actually be more related to slope or competition for resources, which may also play a factor. At this point, it appears my hypothesis is wrong however, and I believe that species richness along the stream has more to do with patch dynamics and competition for other resources other water, which I originally thought would have a stronger impact. My research will be focused on how competition for resources creates known patch dynamics along a stream, or similar waterway, in an attempt to understand the less then uniform patterns I’m observing.
Keywords might be Patch Dynamics, Species Richness, Stream-side vegetation
Interesting thoughts for sure! It may not be as simple as water decreases uniformly along your transects thus creating the patterns you see. As well, transition or edge habitats may also have higher species diversity as species adapted to water may still thrive though you get more upland species as well and this may not be at a set distance from your stream, which I think is what you are also getting at in your post.