Freshwater Animal Diversity Assessment

This book offers a comprehensive study of species- and genus-level diversity and chorology of the global freshwater fauna to date. It gives a state of the art assessment of the diversity and distribution of Metazoa in the continental waters of the world.

Fresh waters are disproportionately rich in species, and represent global hotspots of biodiversity. However, they are also hotspots of endangerment.

Understanding the balance of society and nature is imperative when researching ecosystems and their global influence. A method of studying the health of these ecosystems is biodiversity. The more diverse the species that live in an ecosystem, the healthier it is. As the climate continues to transform, small-scale ecosystems are affected, altering their diversity. Environmentalists need a book of research that studies the specific impacts of climate change and how it affects the future of the environment. Current State and Future Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity is a pivotal reference source that provides vital research on biological systems and how climate change influences their health. While highlighting topics such as genetic diversity, economic valuation, and climatic conditions, this publication explores the effects of climate change as well as the methods of sustainable management within ecosystems. This book is ideally designed for environmental scientists, environmental professionals, scientists, ecologists, conservationists, government officials, policymakers, agriculturalists, environmentalists, zoologists, botanists, entomologists, urban planners, researchers, scholars, and students seeking research on current and future developments of various ecosystems.

Presents "Freshwater Biodiversity: A Preliminary Global Assessment," number eight of the World Conservation Monitoring Centre (WCMC) Biodiversity Series. Features information on the biodiversity of inland waters, prepared for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) by the WCMC in Cambridge.

World Bank Discussion Paper No. 337. Draws on household survey data from 87 rural villages in Bangladesh to examine the contribution that government family planning programs, as well as other health care interventions, have made toward the recent reduction in fertility by increasing contraceptive use and reducing infant mortality. The paper suggests that the programs have been effective and finds that targeted credit program placement, such as the Grameen Bank and the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC), contributed to the effort as well.

The sounds produced by geophonic, biophonic and technophonic sources are relevant to the function of natural and human modified ecosystems. Passive recording is one of the most non-invasive technologies as its use avoids human intrusion during acoustic surveys and facilitates the accumulation of huge amounts of acoustical data. For the first time, this book collates and reviews the science behind ecoaucostics; illustrating the principles, methods and applications of this exciting new field. Topics covered in this comprehensive volume include; the assessment of biodiversity based on sounds emanating from a variety of environments the best technologies and methods necessary to investigate environmental sounds implications for climate change and urban systems the relationship between landscape ecology and ecoacoustics the conservation of soundscapes and the social value of ecoacoustics areas of potential future research. An invaluable resource for scholars, researchers and students, Ecoacoustics: The Ecological Role of Sounds provides an unrivalled set of ideas, tools and references based on the current state of the field.

Freshwater Biodiversity is a much underestimated component of global biodiversity, both in its diversity and in its potential to act as models for fundamental research in evolutionary biology and ecosystem studies. Freshwater organisms also reflect quality of water bodies and can thus be used to monitor changes in ecosystem health. The present book comprises a unique collection of primary research papers spanning a wide range of topics in aquatic biodiversity studies, and including a first global assessment of specific diversity of freshwater animals. The book also presents a section on the interaction between scientists and science policy managers. A target opinion paper lists priorities in aquatic biodiversity research for the next decade and several reactions from distinguished scientists discuss the relevance of these items from different points of view: fundamental ecology, taxonomy and systematics, needs of developing countries, present-day biodiversity policy at European and at global scales. It is believed that such a platform for the interaction between science and science policy is an absolute necessity for the efficient use of research budgets in the future.

This book offers a comprehensive account of the current state of inland waters in tropical and subtropical East Asia, exploring a series of case studies of freshwater fish, reptiles, amphibians, birds, mammals and water bodies at particular risk. The book highlights the rich freshwater biodiversity of tropical East Asia and draws attention to the various threats it faces due to human activities and rapid environmental change. It addresses the question of whether the contributions of these animals and habitats, or biodiversity in general, to ecosystem functioning and service provision provide sufficient basis for arguments supporting nature conservation. Drawing on instances from the rivers and lakes of tropical East Asia, the book also asks whether the benefits accruing from intact ecosystems are likely to be enough to ensure their preservation. If the answer to either or both these questions is ‘no’, then what are the prospects for freshwater biodiversity in rapidly changing tropical East Asia? This book will be of interest to students and scholars of biodiversity, conservation, freshwater ecology, ecosystem services and Asian Studies.