Dear Najafi,

there is a new COST action Connecteur focsing on connectivcty which might be interesting for you to follow.

Regards

Peter Fiener

@Dear Fiener

Thanks for your answer.

I am not familiar with the term functional connectivity, but here are few thoughts for you: (Sorry if I'm way off the mark with what you were asking)

Think about the spatial and temporal scales of your investigation, as it may influence the way you pursue this problem. For instance you can look at sediment load and dissolved load in rivers over human timescales to estimate sediment flux.

You can look at continental basin averaged denudation rates using cosmogenic nuclides in active stream sediments, this quantifies rates of erosion over timescales of ~1-20 ka (depending on denudation rate).

For how sediment is transferred through fluvial systems (an active field of research), you may want to look at various numerical models of source to sink sediment transfer. Its possible that behavior changes depending on the type of driver and timescale, e.g. over Milankovitch (global climate) timescales, and longer (for tectonic perturbations). 

If you need any references related to above, let me know. Hope this helps some. 

@Dear Curtis Mason