We analyze here the nature of research in freshwater macrosystem biology (especially lotic studies) from both conceptual and current research perspectives. The boundaries of permanent and transitional lotic macrosystems from the smallest to largest spatial extents are described. We contrast ecosystem vs. macrosystem research and macroecology vs. macrosystems ecology and provide some examples of representative aquatic macrosystems ecology projects in the USA. We recommend approaches for incorporating certain large‐scale lotic concepts developed over the last 40 yr as the bases for lotic macrosystem studies. Of these, the three most appropriate in chronological order are the River Continuum Concept, the Riverine Ecosystem Synthesis, and the Stream Biome Gradient Concept. Four other concepts would be suitable for testing macrosystem hypotheses after incorporating small to large conceptual or geographic expansions of the models. We suggest future research directions in lotic macrosystem research in areas of climate change and teleconnections among distant organisms and systems and include general recommendations for conducting macrosystem‐level research.

中文翻译：

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Lotic宏观系统研究的框架

在这里，我们从概念和当前研究的角度分析了淡水宏观系统生物学研究的性质（尤其是抽水研究）。描述了永久性和过渡性Lotic宏观系统从最小到最大空间范围的边界。我们对比了生态系统与宏观系统研究以及宏观生态与宏观系统生态学，并提供了一些在美国具有代表性的水生宏观系统生态学项目的实例。我们建议采用一些方法来结合过去40年来开发的某些大型抽水概念，作为抽水宏观系统研究的基础。其中，按时间顺序最合适的三个是河流连续体概念，河流生态系统综合和河流生物群落梯度概念。在合并了模型的从小到大的概念或地理扩展之后，其他四个概念将适合于测试宏系统假设。我们建议在气候变化和远距离生物与系统之间的遥相关领域进行Lotic宏观系统研究的未来研究方向，并包括进行宏观系统级研究的一般建议。