River styles provide a geomorphic summary of river forms and processes within a reach. Assessment of river style is determined by channel geometry (size and shape), channel planform, and the assemblage of geomorphic units that make up a river reach (in both the channel and floodplain zones). Analysis of the character and condition of river styles entails three stages, namely baseline survey of river character and behaviour within a catchment, assessment of river condition, and prioritorisation of management efforts at river conservation and/or rehabilitation. The river styles procedure has been trialed in various sand- and gravel-bed coastal river systems in New South wales, Australia. There are no obvious reasons why this approach to catchment-framed analysis of river geomorphology could not be applied to river systems in any geographic setting.

River styles are analysed within a nested hierarchical approach, showing the linkage of biophysical processes at catchment, landscape unit, reach and geomorphic unit scales. The character and behaviour of river styles are conditioned largely by the landscape units (or topographic setting) through which rivers flow. Distinct downstream patterns have been identified, showing changes associated with valley width and stream power. Individual river styles comprise mosaics of channel and floodplain geomorphic units. Downstream patterns, evolutionary trends, and the relative condition (and recovery potential) of differing river styles form a biophysical basis for prioritorisation of management efforts at river conservation and rehabilitation.

The geomorphic context within which river styles are analysed provides a basis to assess habitat availability along river courses. As such, changes to the geomorphic structure of rivers have direct implications for the range, extent and connectivity of habitat. These considerations are analysed through assessment of the condition of each reach of each river style. In recent work, this framework has been extended as a biophysical platform to assess the impact of differing water allocation strategies along river courses, through designation of representative sites for catchment-wide monitoring programs.