Beginning in the mid-1970s, physical geographers (and scientists in other disciplines who use geographic perspectives) adopted a more holistic view that emphasized spatial patterns, connections, and long-distance impacts. Riparian habitats were seen to respond to changes in the watershed upstream, as well as to local dynamics. For example, William Baker (1989b), Jacob Bendix (1994), and George Malanson (1993) have shown that the composition and dynamics of riparian forests depend both on local conditions and on the location of forests in the stream network and the distant areas that contribute water and nutrients. Similarly, analysis of the movement of pollutants in watersheds to the Chesapeake Bay and other East Coast estuaries showed how our understanding of estuarine