Andrea Rinaldo

Rinaldo led pathbreaking contributions in key areas of water controls on biota. In  hydrogeomorphology, Rinaldo opened a most exciting field with his development of the theory of Optimal Channel Networks as a comprehensive description of statics, dynamics and complexity of river basins. In Ecohydrology, Rinaldo's theoretical, experimental and field work on river networks as ecological corridors impacted our understanding of the biodiversity controls of large and complex fluvial ecosystems, their susceptibility to biological invasions and to waterborne disease spread in space and time, namely for epidemic cholera and endemic schistosomiasis in humans and proliferative kidney disease in salmonid fish.