Ecology of Fresh Waters - a View for the Twenty-first Century 4E

Brian Moss has researched or taught freshwater ecology on six continents over nearly fifty years, specialising in lake restoration, eutrophication and climate change. He retired recently as Holbrook Gaskell Professor of Botany at the University of Liverpool, but remains very active in freshwater affairs.

Preface. 1. Introduction. 1.1 Why? Further reading. 2. Water, a remarkable unremarkable substance. 2.1 Introduction. 2.2 The molecular properties of water and their physical consequences. 2.3 How much water is there and where is it? 2.4 Patterns in hydrology. 2.5 Bodies of water and their temperatures. 2.5.1 Lakes and latitude. 2.6 Viscosity of water, fluid dynamics and the diffusion of gases. 2.6.1 Diffusion. Further reading. 3. Why the chemistry of water is so important. 3.1 Introduction. 3.1.1 Polar and covalent compounds. 3.2 The atmosphere. 3.3 Major ions. 3.4 Global patterns in major ions: glaciation and endorheism. 3.5 Open and closed basins. 3.6 The big picture. Further reading. 4. More water chemistry: the key nutrients, trace elements and organic matter. 4.1 Introduction. 4.2 Concepts of limiting substances. 4.3 Nutrients. 4.4 Phosphorus. 4.5 Nitrogen. 4.6 Pristine concentrations. 4.7 Trace elements and silicon. 4.8 Organic substances. 4.8.1 Patterns in DOM availability. 4.9 Substance budgets. 4.10 Sediment water relationships. Further reading. 5. Light thrown upon the waters. 5.1 Light. 5.2 From above to under the water. 5.3 From physics and chemistry to biology. Further reading. 6. Evolution and diversity of freshwater organisms. 6.1 Introduction. 6.2 The ecological theatre and the evolutionary play. 6.3 The freshwater biota. 6.4 Living in freshwaters. 6.5 Dispersal among freshwaters. 6.6 Patterns in freshwater diversity. 6.7 The fish of Lake Victoria. 6.8 Low diversity freshwater habitats. 6.9 A summary of the freshwater biota and its problems. Further reading. 7. Headwater streams and rivers. 7.1 Introduction. 7.2 General models of stream ecosystems. 7.3 A basic lesson in stream flow. 7.4 Flow and discharge. 7.5 Laminar and turbulent flow. 7.6 Particles carried. 7.7 The response of stream organisms to shear stress. 7.8 Community composition in streams. 7.8.1 Algal and plant communities. 7.8.2 Macroinvertebrates. 7.9 Streams in cold climates: the polar and alpine zones. 7.10 Stream systems in the cold temperate zone. 7.11 Warm temperate streams. 7.12 Desert streams. 7.13 Tropical streams. Further reading. 8. Uses, misuses and restoration of headwater streams and rivers. 8.1 Traditional use of headwater river systems. 8.2 Deforestation. 8.3 Acidification. 8.4 Eutrophication. 8.5 Commercial afforestation. 8.6 Settlement. 8.7 Engineering impacts. 8.8 Alterations of the fish community by man. 8.9 Sewage, toxic pollution and their treatment. 8.10 Diffuse pollution. 8.11 River monitoring. 8.12 The Water Framework Directive. 8.13 Implementation of the Directive. 8.14 Wider considerations: ecosystem services. 8.15 Restoration, rehabilitation and reconciliation ecology. 8.16 Reconciliation ecology of river systems. Further reading. 9. Middle stage and depositional floodplain rivers. 9.1 Introduction. 9.2 Change from an erosive river to a depositional one. 9.3 Submerged plants. 9.4 Growth of submerged plants. 9.5 Methods of measuring the primary productivity of submerged plants. 9.6 Submerged plants and the river ecosystem. 9.7 Further downstream swamps and floodplains. 9.8 Swamp and marsh animals. 9.8.1 Whitefish and blackfish. 9.9 Latitudinal differences in floodplains. Further reading. 10. Floodplain ecosystems and human affairs. 10.1 Introduction. 10.2 Floodplain services. 10.2.1 Floodplain fisheries. 10.3 Floodplain swamps and human diseases. 10.4 Case studies. 10.5 River and floodplain management and rehabilitation. 10.6 Interbasin transfers and water needs. Further reading. 11. Lakes and other standing waters. 11.1 Introduction. 11.2 The origins of lake basins. 11.3 Lake structure. 11.4 The importance of the catchment area. 11.5 Lakes as autotrophic or heterotrophic systems. 11.6 The continuum of lakes. 11.7 Lake history. 11.10 Filling in. 11.11 Summing up. Further reading. 12. The communities of shallow standing waters: mires, shallow lakes and the littoral zone. 12.1 Introduction. 12.2 The scope of mires and littoral zones. 12.3 The structure of littoral communities. 12.4 Heterotrophs among the plants. 12.4.1 Neuston. 12.5 Linkages, risks and insurances among the littoral communities. 12.6 Latitude and littorals. 12.7 The role of the nekton. 12.8 Further reading. 13. Plankton communities of the pelagic zone. 13.1 Kitchens and toilets. 13.2 Phytoplankton. 13.3 Heterotrophs in the plankton: viruses and bacteria. 13.4 Protozoa and fungi. 13.5 Zooplankton. 13.6 Fish in the open-water community. 13.7 Piscivores and piscivory. 13.8 Functioning of the open-water community. Further reading. 14. The profundal zone. 14.1 The end of the line. 14.2 The importance of oxygen. 14.3 Profundal communities. 14.4 Biology of selected benthic invertebrates. 14.5 What the sediment-living detritivores really eat. 14.6 Influence of the open water community on the profundal benthos. Further reading. 15. The uses, abuses and restoration of standing waters. 15.1 Introduction. 15.2 Services provided by standing waters. 15.3 Fisheries. 15.4 Changes in fisheries: two case studies. 15.5 Fish culture. 15.6 Stillwater angling. 15.7 Amenity culture and the aquarium trade. 15.8 Domestic water supply, eutrophication and reservoirs. 15.8.1 Eutrophication human induced changes in the production of lakes. 15.8.2 Dams and reservoirs. 15.8.3 Fisheries in new lakes. 15.8.4 Effects downstream of the new lake. 15.8.5 New tropical lakes and human populations. 15.8.6 Man-made tropical lakes, the balance of pros and cons. 15.9 Amenity and conservation. 15.10 Restoration approaches for standing waters: symptom treatment. 15.11 Treatment of proximate causes: nutrient control. 15.12 Habitat creation. Further reading. 16. Climate change and the future of freshwaters. 16.1 The Merchant of Venice. 16.2 Climate change. 16.3 Existing effects of freshwaters. 16.4 Future effects. 16.5 Control and mitigation of global warming. 16.6 The remedy of ultimate causes. Further reading. 17. Problem exercises. 1. Stratification. 2. Catchments and water chemistry. 3. The Vollenweider model. 4. Nutrient budgeting. 5. Light penetration. 6. Biodiversity. 7. Problems with a frog. 8. Predation in streams. 9. Deforestation and tropical streams. 10. Swamp habitats and insect adaptations. 11. Ecosystem valuation in a floodplain. 12. Top down and bottom up control in shallow and deep lakes. 13. Palatability of aquatic plants to fish. 14. The plankton of paddling pools. 15. Probing the profundal. 16. The curse of birds for lake managers. 17. Nutrient problems in tricky situations. References. Index.