A stream is a stream, right? Water flows and fluctuates with seasonal changes. But it's really not that simple; how the land around a stream is used can have a profound effect on the flow in that stream.
Julia Jones, a forest ecologist at Oregon State University, has extensively studied streams in coastal forests. And among her findings: old-growth forests tend to feature streams with more regular and greater flows.
Clearcut forests soak up more water as they grow back, and the flows are less regular. Professor Jones visits with some details of her research.