From the watershed and sediment management point of view, which aspects and effective factors of Functional and Structural sediment connectivity should be paid attention?
Hard definitions aside, I think structural connectivity is a landscape quality, typically quantified by studying terrain and elevation models. In my view it is static (at least without any changes in the landscape off course). Functional connectivity on the other hand is something that changes over time. For a catchment hydrologist the time scale would be e.g. a rainfall event. Functional connectivity in that case refers to what happens during such a period: pathways are blocked and unblocked, connections between areas appear and disappear. Clearly, functional connectivity is depends on the structural connectivity of the system you're studying, and, to a certain degree, vice versa.
Thank you for your explanation. I agree with your view. But there is one thing which need to be paid attention. Generally we think that functional connectivity is depends on the structural connectivity but I think some sediment transport processes (such as Sediment Storage or Sediment Redistribution) are due to of inconsistency between structural and functional connectivity.
I would like to know what you and other readers think about this matter.