Freshwater Biomonitoring And Benthic Macroinvertebrates

North American and European governments have adopted national programs for environmental monitoring and assessment that include the use of aquatic biota. These programs will use a variety of indicators of environmental health; benthic macroinvertebrates are one of the most promising of them. The chapters in this book deal with the many different approaches available for using benthic macroinvertebrates in biological monitoring programs.

The assessment of the ecological integrity of running waters is a prerequisite to an understanding of the effects of human alterations. The evaluation of degradation processes provides key information on how to avoid further negative impacts. The success of future conservation, mitigation and restoration activities will rely on sound assessment methodologies and their ecological relevance and applicability. Assessment methodologies are therefore an integral part of sustainable river management. This book synthesizes and discusses state-of-the-art experiences in assessment methodologies. Including the latest knowledge on structures, processes and functions of running waters as a fundamental basis for developing adequate assessment methods, the book focuses on method development, application, and in particular on integrated assessment methods. This book is directed at scientists and managers with the aim of more effective preservation, restoration and maintenance of the ecological integrity of running water ecosystems.

This open access book surveys the frontier of scientific river research and provides examples to guide management towards a sustainable future of riverine ecosystems. Principal structures and functions of the biogeosphere of rivers are explained; key threats are identified, and effective solutions for restoration and mitigation are provided. Rivers are among the most threatened ecosystems of the world. They increasingly suffer from pollution, water abstraction, river channelisation and damming. Fundamental knowledge of ecosystem structure and function is necessary to understand how human acitivities interfere with natural processes and which interventions are feasible to rectify this. Modern water legislation strives for sustainable water resource management and protection of important habitats and species. However, decision makers would benefit from more profound understanding of ecosystem degradation processes and of innovative methodologies and tools for efficient mitigation and restoration. The book provides best-practice examples of sustainable river management from on-site studies, European-wide analyses and case studies from other parts of the world. This book will be of interest to researchers in the field of aquatic ecology, river system functioning, conservation and restoration, to postgraduate students, to institutions involved in water management, and to water related industries.

Freshwater invertebrates identification guide for both professionals and non-professionals. Contains a key to all the macroinvertebrate groups and photographs of live specimens.

This book provides the focal point of the European Water Framework Directive. offering insight into principles and methodologies of river assessment, covering the whole range from the definition of river typologies to specific problems such as the most appropriate taxonomic resolution and software applications. The text focuses on benthic macroinvertebrates, the taxonomic group most frequently used in bioassessment.

The project "Biological Monitoring in Nordic Rivers and Lakes" is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers and operates as part of the Nordic Council of Ministers Group on Monitoring and Data (NMD). A total of 24 scientists, technicians and administrators from the five Nordic countries have participated in the project in 1998-99. The project "Biological Monitoring in Nordic Rivers and Lakes" was originally initiated in the light of the coming Water Framework Directive that calls for common methods and approaches to assess the ecological quality of the aquatic environment. The participants in the project have gathered available information on the use of macroinvertebrates, macrophytes and fish as monitoring indicators. Finally, recommendations for common methods and strategies have been elaborated and proposals for future work and corporation are forwarded.

This book deals with the ecology of rivers and streams in the Oriental Region, and describes the composition of their unique fauna - especially the diverse array of animals which live on and among the bottom sediments. Dichotomous keys are provided as an aid to the identification of these animals, and the book is illustrated by over 100 pages of line drawings and maps. Special emphasis is given to the impact of human activities on streams and rivers, and the book concludes with a discussion of conservation and management options for these endangered habitats.

Quantifying the effect(s) of human-induced changes on aquatic ecosystems is a fundamental objective in ecological assessment, and one that often requires the use of a reference condition. Because of the widespread degradation of many aquatic ecosystems, finding pristine or even minimally disturbed reference sites can be a challenging (read frustrating) and costly endeavour. This book gives a comprehensive description of present-day concepts and practices in working with the use of references in quantifying departures from conditions expected with no or only minimal anthropogenic effects.