TOPOGRAPHIC SIGNATURES OF LIFE IN THE NORTHERN ROCKIES

Do biota affect landscape form and evolution? Dietrich and Perron provocatively raised this question in a 2006 Nature paper, building on and spawning research into the coevolution of life and landscapes. Here I pose this question with respect to select Rocky Mountain landscapes, applying both case studies and emerging ecogeomorphic process knowledge to describe biophysical interactions among flora, fauna, slopes and rivers in Montana and elsewhere in the northern Rockies.