Ecological Significance of Riparian Ecosystems: Challenges and Management Strategies examines the current issues related to river ecosystems, their environmental importance, pollution issues and potential management strategies. The book is divided into 4 key themes: Basics of river ecosystem, Natural phenomenon of river ecosystem, Human-induced problems of river ecosystem, and Management measures for the river ecosystem. Through these four themes, the contributors present both practical and theoretical aspects of river ecosystem in changing climate. An emphasis has been made on the recent research of climate change and its impact on the river ecosystem. River ecosystems have tremendous potential to store CO2, however, with changing climatic and anthropogenic activities, these habitats are under threat, and river ecosystems are losing the very vital service of storing carbon. Unlike well documented terrestrial biodiversity, the biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems is still unrecognized to some extent. Presents an understanding of the biogeochemical processes of river ecosystems achieved by food webs and diverse biogeochemical processes Covers sediment dynamics and nutrient chemistry - hot topics in river ecosystems Includes environmental pollution issues in river ecosystems from various anthropogenic activities

A derivative of the Encyclopedia of Inland Waters, River Ecosystem Ecology reviews the function of rivers and streams as ecosystems as well as the varied activities and interactions that occur among their abiotic and biotic components. Because the articles are drawn from an encyclopedia, the articles are easily accessible to interested members of the public, such as conservationists and environmental decision makers. Includes an up-to-date summary of global aquatic ecosystems and issues Covers current environmental problems and management solutions Features full-color figures and tables to support the text and aid in understanding

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.

Rivers provide about 60 percent of the nation's drinking water and irrigation water and 10 percent of the nation's electric power needs. The multiple and sometimes incompatible services demanded of rivers often lead to policy and management conflicts that require the integration of science-based information. This report advises the U.S. Geological Survey on how it can best address river science challenges by effectively using its resources and coordinating its activities with other agencies. The report identifies the highest priority river science issues for the USGS, including environmental flows and river restoration, sediment transport and geomorphology, and groundwater surface-water interactions. It also recommends two cross-cutting science activities including surveying and mapping the nation's river systems according to key physical and landscape features, and expanding work on predictive models, especially those that simulate interactions between physical-biological processes. The report identifies key variables to be monitored and data-managed. It proposes enhancements in streamflow, biological, and sediment monitoring; these include establishing multidisciplinary, integrated reach-scale monitoring sites and developing a comprehensive national sediment monitoring program. Finally, it encourages the USGS to be at the forefront of new technology application, including airborne lidar and embedded, networked, wireless sensors.

Rivers around the world are threatened by changes in land use, climate, hydrologic cycles, and biodiversity. Global changes in rivers include, but are not restricted to water flow interruptions, temperature increases, loss of hydrological connectivity, altered water residence times, changes in nutrient loads, increasing arrival of new chemicals, simplification of the physical structure of the systems, occurrence of invasive species, and biodiversity losses. All of them affect the structure and functioning of the river ecosystem, and thereby, their ecosystem services. Understanding the responses of river ecosystems and their services to global change is essential for protecting human well being in all corners of the planet. Rivers provide critical benefits by providing food from fisheries and irrigation, regulating biogeochemical balances, and enriching our aesthetic and cultural experience. Predicting responses of rivers to global change is challenged by the complexity of interactions among these man-made drivers across a mosaic of natural hydrogeomorphic and climatic settings. This book explores the broad range of determinants defining global change and their effects on river ecosystems. Authors have provided thoughtful and insightful treatments of specific topics that relate to the broader theme of global change regulation of river ecosystems.

As the vast expanses of natural forests and the great populations of salmonids are harvested to support a rapidly expanding human population, the need to understand streams as ecological systems and to manage them effectively becomes increasingly urgent. The unfortunate legacy of such natural resource exploitation is well documented. For several decades the Pacific coastal ecoregion of North America has served as a natural laboratory for scientific and managerial advancements in stream ecology, and much has been learned about how to better integrate ecological processes and characteristics with a human-dominated environment. These in sightful but hard-learned ecological and social lessons are the subject of this book. Integrating land and rivers as interactive components of ecosystems and watersheds has provided the ecological sciences with impor tant theoretical foundations. Even though scientific disciplines have begun to integrate land-based processes with streams and rivers, the institutions and processes charged with managing these systems have not done so successfully. As a result, many of the watersheds of the Pacific coastal ecoregion no longer support natural settings for environmental processes or the valuable natural resources those processes create. An important role for scientists, educators, and decision makers is to make the integration between ecology and con sumptive uses more widely understood, as well as useful for effective management.

Stream Ecosystems in a Changing Environment synthesizes the current understanding of stream ecosystem ecology, emphasizing nutrient cycling and carbon dynamics, and providing a forward-looking perspective regarding the response of stream ecosystems to environmental change. Each chapter includes a section focusing on anticipated and ongoing dynamics in stream ecosystems in a changing environment, along with hypotheses regarding controls on stream ecosystem functioning. The book, with its innovative sections, provides a bridge between papers published in peer-reviewed scientific journals and the findings of researchers in new areas of study. Presents a forward-looking perspective regarding the response of stream ecosystems to environmental change Provides a synthesis of the latest findings on stream ecosystems ecology in one concise volume Includes thought exercises and discussion activities throughout, providing valuable tools for learning Offers conceptual models and hypotheses to stimulate conversation and advance research