River ecology : science and management for a changing world /
"This volume explains the basic concepts of the ecology of streams and rivers, visualizing the system as a continuum in which the upper headwaters are intimately linked with the lower river, including and part of the estuary. It discusses how rainfall in the upper watershed combines with geogra...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
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Oxford ; New York, NY :
Oxford University Press,
[2023]
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| Online Access: | Connect to the full text of this electronic book |
| Summary: | "This volume explains the basic concepts of the ecology of streams and rivers, visualizing the system as a continuum in which the upper headwaters are intimately linked with the lower river, including and part of the estuary. It discusses how rainfall in the upper watershed combines with geography and geology to shape the physical river ecosystem, the currents, erosional forces, and interactions with the floodplain. Light, or solar irradiance, is discussed in terms of how it influences river plant growth and how it is influenced by suspended sediments and water color. Nutrients and their sources, especially nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and silica (Si), influence plant and bacterial life, and overabundances of N and P cause major problems to the river system. The growth and overgrowth of river plant life (phytoplankton, periphyton, macroalgae, and macrophytes) is described, and relations with nutrients and grazers, and as habitat for invertebrate and vertebrate organisms. This volume assumes that natural rivers are now exceedingly rare and describes in depth the many human-caused problems endemic to today's rivers, including watershed clearcutting of forests and urbanization, construction and impacts of dams and water diversions, power plant impacts to rivers, chemical pollution, and introduction and control of plant and animal invasive species. This volume also provides chapters discussing previously understudied lotic systems such as blackwater streams and rivers, tidal creeks, and reservoir ecology. Stream and river restoration is also described. The book concludes with a chapter on flooding, hurricane impacts, and how climate change is and will influence those major river impacts, as well as other aspects of the river ecosystem's ecology"--Publisher's description. |
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| Physical Description: | 1 online resource (415 pages) : illustrations |
| Audience: | Specialized. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780191886140 0191886149 0192592327 9780192592323 |