Describe the common parts of a river (riparian) habitat

Rivers have been used as a source of water, for obtaining food, for transport, as a defensive measure, as a source of hydropwer to drive machinery, for bathing, and as a means of disposing of waste.Rivers have been used for navigation for thousands of years.The ecosystem of rivers is generally described by the river continuum concept, which has some additions and refinements to allow for spatial (dams, waterfalls) and temporal (extensive flooding). The basic idea is that the river can be described as a system that is continuously changing along its length in the physical parameters, the availability of food particles and the composition of the ecosystem.