A river is a city

Quiet is good when aiming beyond the sentimental, maudlin or romantic in contemplating a view like this. The significance of a river in ecological impact over time is so far beyond what one human mind can appreciate in a day, a year or a lifetime that silence is appropriate.

The dynamic relationship between water and untold life forms holds varied stories of adaptation, mutual benefit, harmony, rivalry and sudden death. All concerned in living together here learn the rhythm of riparian life as it affects them particularly, according to their capacity for learning, or not. The vicissitudes of life near a superior force of wet and dry presents challenges, often accompanied by little thinking time. Thinking is not the strong suit of many residents in a natural ecology. Being eaten is but one way of being consumed here. Staying unobtrusive to invisible at opportune times in the green is good practice. There are warning systems but everyone here does his or her own policing... and escaping.

The seemingly endless river teems with insect, mammal, bird and other inhabitant life. All of this changes along the decrease in elevation and increase in flow, gradually or abruptly, all the way to the sea. Scenery of green banks, riparian flora made up of reeds, rushes, grasses, shrubs and many unusual extras, offer unexpected sights of lifestyles along the river length. As one expects in densely populated living areas. Rivers provide several benefits only discovered from living here, like their contribution to temperature control. Granted, rivers are at times a bit much to swallow.

Many plants rely on the flowing water to disperse their seeds, germinating who knows where. Occasionally rerootable plant parts are carried downstream, like city vagrants. It takes all types! In this way riverbanks change the look and feel of their leafy cover over time and all the time. What’s delivered from upstream, settles downstream or bothers the sea, so don’t litter! Cities die from it! 

Nooks untold in the shadows serve as housing for raising families of organisms big and small. Most of them don’t share small talk, similar to many town folk these days. And maybe always. Instinct and the capacity for spotting danger are constant companions for making it here. Isn't this true everywhere in nature, as well as in cities? The dense population is a busy ecology of nifty cohabitation solutions benefiting unlike partners and juxtaposed parties capitalising on contingencies of the moment.

The interpretation of arm's length decreases continually as long as the populations grow and vice versa. Frogs, for instance, make good neighbours, depending on what you are and how much personal space you need! Incoming river residents check out prospective living quarters and food supplies before settling in. If one can’t or won’t eat a neighbour, it might still reciprocate, beware! Still, all sorts of beasties raise offspring in unlikely niches among the bushes nearer or further from the water. River real estate worth fluctuates depending on the tastes in the mix of resident species. All the inhabitants mutually and collectively check and adjust each other’s population numbers. (We eat each other of course, most politely!) Shopping is seasonal, aligned with conditions and who is available. River supermarkets are rare, delis abound.

Flood is upheaval, intermittently wiping out individuals of all shapes and sizes, a bit like earthquakes in Japan. Life is about all the extant species form the niche communities carrying on regardless according to their specific habits. Habits are curbed by city resources and natural conditions. All do as they are allowed, each kind uniquely armed with functional defence mechanisms of their species. What’s good for the grass isn’t good for the reed but what about the herbivore? Municipal bylaws are unwritten here. Floods replenish nutrients and all survivors adjust and capitalise! Seasonal dry spells test comfort and resilience, drought tests harder. Isn't life the same everywhere?

The way rivers live is increasingly better understood by human minds. Human hearts need to grasp more of this for the magnificent rivers of the earth to retain their character.