Freshwater Ecosystems

Rather than a marginal part of protected area management, this book shows that freshwater conservation is central to sustaining biodiversity. It focuses on better practices for conserving inland aquatic ecosystems in protected areas (PAs), including rivers, wetlands, swamps, other brackish and freshwater ecosystems, and coastal estuaries.

This text examines the impact of climate change on freshwater ecosystems, past, present and future. It especially considers the interactions between climate change and other drivers of change including hydromorphological modification, nutrient loading, acid deposition and contamination by toxic substances using evidence from palaeolimnology, time-series analysis, space-for-time substitution, laboratory and field experiments and process modelling. The book evaluates these processes in relation to extreme events, seasonal changes in ecosystems, trends over decadal-scale time periods, mitigation strategies and ecosystem recovery. The book is also concerned with how aspects of hydrophysical, hydrochemical and ecological change can be used as early indicators of climate change in aquatic ecosystems and it addresses the implications of future climate change for freshwater ecosystem management at the catchment scale. This is an ideal book for the scientific research community, but is also accessible to Masters and senior undergraduate students.

The fundamental purpose of this book is to synthesise the divergent literature on aquatic lipids into a co-ordinated, digestible form. A large part of the book addresses lipid composition and production in freshwater organisms, with chapters on phytoplankton, zooplankton and benthic invertebrates. A common theme throughout the book is the function of lipids in aquatic food webs, with a chapter devoted exclusively to lipids as indicators of health in fish populations. A complementary chapter highlights the role of lipids and essential fatty acids in mariculture. Methodologies to determine the lipid content of aquatic samples and suggestions as to the utility of fatty acids as trophic markers are included, as is one chapter on the role of lipids in the bioaccumulation and bioconcentration of toxicants and another on the relationships between lipids and surface films and foams. The final chapter highlights the similarities and differences between lipids of marine and freshwater origin. Students and researchers in ecology, phycology, aquatic toxicology, physiological ecology and limnology will find this an invaluable guide and reference.

Global climate change is a certainty. The Earth's climate has never remained static for long and the prospect for human-accelerated climate change in the near future appears likely. Freshwater systems are intimately connected to climate in several ways: they may influence global atmospheric processes affecting climate; they may be sensitive early indicators of climate change because they integrate the atmospheric and terrestrial events occurring in their catchments; and, of course, they will be affected by climate change. An improved predictive understanding of environmental effects on pattern and process in freshwater ecosystems will be invaluable as a baseline upon which to build sound protection and management policies for fresh waters. This book represents an early step towards this improved understanding. The contributors accepted the challenge to assume global warming of 2-5oC in the next century. They then explored the implications of this scenario on various freshwater ecosystems and processes. To provide a broader perspective, Firth and Fisher included several chapters which do not deal expressly with freshwater ecosystems, but rather discuss climate change in terms of causes and mechanisms, implications for water resources, and the use of remote sensing as a tool for expanding studies from local to global scale.

A look at the plants, animals, locations, and various habitats that make up the freshwater ecosystems of the world.

A Practitioner's Guide to Freshwater Biodiversity Conservation brings together knowledge and experience from conservation practitioners and experts around the world to help readers understand the global challenge of conserving biodiversity in freshwater ecosystems. More importantly, it offers specific strategies and suggestions for managers to use in establishing new conservation initiatives or improving the effectiveness of existing initiatives. The book: offers an understanding of fundamental issues by explaining how ecosystems are structured and how they support biodiversity; provides specific information and approaches for identifying areas most in need of protection; examines promising strategies that can help reduce biodiversity loss; and describes design considerations and methods for measuring success within an adaptive management framework. The book draws on experience and knowledge gained during a five-year project of The Nature Conservancy known as the Freshwater Initiative, which brought together a range of practitioners to create a learning laboratory for testing ideas, approaches, tools, strategies, and methods. For professionals involved with land or water management-including state and federal agency staff, scientists and researchers working with conservation organizations, students and faculty involved with freshwater issues or biodiversity conservation, and policymakers concerned with environmental issues-the book represents an important new source of information, ideas, and approaches.

Freshwater Ecology, Second Edition, is a broad, up-to-date treatment of everything from the basic chemical and physical properties of water to advanced unifying concepts of the community ecology and ecosystem relationships as found in continental waters. With 40% new and expanded coverage, this text covers applied and basic aspects of limnology, now with more emphasis on wetlands and reservoirs than in the previous edition. It features 80 new and updated figures, including a section of color plates, and 500 new and updated references. The authors take a synthetic approach to ecological problems, teaching students how to handle the challenges faced by contemporary aquatic scientists. This text is designed for undergraduate students taking courses in Freshwater Ecology and Limnology; and introductory graduate students taking courses in Freshwater Ecology and Limnology. Expanded revision of Dodds' successful text. New boxed sections provide more advanced material within the introductory, modular format of the first edition. Basic scientific concepts and environmental applications featured throughout. Added coverage of climate change, ecosystem function, hypertrophic habitats and secondary production. Expanded coverage of physical limnology, groundwater and wetland habitats. Expanded coverage of the toxic effects of pharmaceuticals and endocrine disrupters as freshwater pollutants More on aquatic invertebrates, with more images and pictures of a broader range of organisms Expanded coverage of the functional roles of filterer feeding, scraping, and shredding organisms, and a new section on omnivores. Expanded appendix on standard statistical techniques. Supporting website with figures and tables - http://www.elsevierdirect.com/companion.jsp?ISBN=9780123747242

This volume presents approaches and methodologies for predicting the structure and diversity of key aquatic communities (namely, diatoms, benthic macroinvertebrates and fish), under natural conditions and under man-made disturbance. The intent is to offer an organized means for modeling, evaluating and restoring freshwater ecosystems.