River Ecology

Description

This accessible textbook takes a broad approach to river ecology, covering the basics but going beyond by including topics that are often overlooked such as blackwater streams and rivers, tidal creek ecosystems, and reservoir limnology. There is significant emphasis on anthropogenic impacts.

• Provides a standalone graduate textbook dedicated to lotic ecosystem ecology
• Adopts a watershed approach, demonstrating the connectivity between mountain streams through midland rivers downstream to the receiving estuaries
• Addresses the truly world-scale changes in river ecosystems due to water consumption, skyrocketing hydroelectric power usage, and massive urbanization
• Tackles topical issues such as the links between climate change, human activity, and increasing storm severity; global problems with invasive plants and animals; and emerging toxic chemicals such as PFAS

About the Author(s)

Prof Michael A. Mallin, Research Professor, Biology and Marine Biology, University of North Carolina, Wilmington, USA

Michael Mallin is Research Professor at the Center for Marine Science, University of North Carolina, Wilmington, USA. His recent research efforts have focused on interrelationships between human landscapes and receiving waters, particularly in terms of microbial contamination and biochemical oxygen demand inputs, and the effectiveness of mitigation strategies to protect stream ecosystems. Professor Mallin is actively involved in science and management boards concerning watershed issues, and his research results have been utilized by the State General Assembly to revise coastal development policies in North Carolina. He was selected as a 2001 Aldo Leopold Environmental Leadership Fellow through the Ecological Society of America.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1:The Physical Nature of River Ecosystems
2:Nutrients and River Ecosystems
3:Lotic Primary Producers: Phytoplankton and Periphyton
4:Lotic Primary Producers: Macroalgae and Macrophytes
5:Stream and River Invertebrate Communities
6:Feeding the River: Unifying Concepts
7:Riverine Fishes and Other Vertebrate Communities
8:Blackwater Streams and Rivers
9:The Ecology of Tidal Creeks
10:Altering the Natural Flow: Dams and River Fragmentation
11:Reservoir Limnology
12:Industrial Pollution of Streams and Rivers
13:Human Wastewater Treatment and Industrial Livestock Production Wastes
14:Species Loss and Impacts of Invasive Species
15:Ecology and Pollution of Urban Streams
16:Protecting and Restoring Streams and Rivers
17:Floods, Hurricanes, and Climate Change