Originally published: Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1970.

Running waters are enormously diverse, ranging from torrential mountain brooks, to large lowland rivers, to great river systems whose basins occupy subcontinents. While this diversity makes river ecosystems seem overwhelmingly complex, a central theme of this volume is that the processes acting in running waters are general, although the settings are often unique. The past two decades have seen major advances in our knowledge of the ecology of streams and rivers. New paradigms have emerged, such as the river continuum and nutrient spiraling. Community ecologists have made impressive advances in documenting the occurrence of species interactions. The importance of physical processes in rivers has attracted increased attention, particularly the areas of hydrology and geomorphology, and the inter-relationships between physical and biological factors have become better understood. And as is true for every area of ecology during the closing years of the twentieth century it has become apparent that the study of streams and rivers cannot be carried out by excluding the role of human activities, nor can we ignore the urgency of the need for conservation. These developments are brought together in Stream Ecology: Structure and function of running waters, designed to serve as a text for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, and as a reference book for specialists in stream ecology and related fields.

A hugely important text for advanced undergraduates as well as graduates with an interest in stream and river ecology, this second, updated edition is designed to serve as a textbook as well as a working reference for specialists in stream ecology and related fields. The book presents vital new findings on human impacts, and new work in pollution control, flow management, restoration and conservation planning that point to practical solutions. All told, the book is expanded in length by some twenty-five percent, and includes hundreds of figures, most of them new.

Aiming to describe the role of dominant ecological factors and of human activities on the organisms of running water and the functioning of the ecosystem, this work covers the few European water courses that are well known in ecological studies.

Nearly a decade ago I began planning this book with the goal of summarizing the existing body of knowledge on ecology of freshwater fishes in a way similar to that of H. B. N. Hynes' comprehensive treatise Ecology of Running Waters for streams. The time seemed appropriate, as there had been several recent volumes that synthesized much information on a range of topics important in fish ecology, from biogeographic to local scales. For example, the "Fish Atlas" (Lee et aI. , 1980) had provided range maps and basic entry to the original literature for all freshwater fishes in North America, and in 1986 Hocutt and Wiley's Zoogeography of North American Fishes provided a detailed synthesis of virtually everything known about distributional ecology of fishes on that continent. Tim Berra (1981) had summarized in convenient map form the worldwide distribution of all freshwater fish families, and Joe Nelson's 1976 and 1984 editions of Fishes of the World had appeared. To complement these "big picture" views of fish distributions, the volume on Community and Evolutionary Ecology of North American Freshwater Fishes, edited by David Heins and myself (Matthews and Heins, 1987), had provided an opportunity for more than 30 individuals or groups to summarize their work on stream fishes (albeit mostly for warmwater systems).

Despite nearly three decades of efforts intended to protect the nation's waters, and some success against certain forms of chemical and organic contamination, many of our nation's waterways continue to be seriously degraded. The call of the 1972 Clean Water Act -- "to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nation's waters" -- remains unanswered. Restoring Life in Running Waters discusses freshwater ecosystems in the United States and the need for using biology to understand their present condition. The book makes a case for using indexes that integrate measurements of many biological attributes to assess and communicate environmental health. In a unique and innovative format, the authors present 37 premises and 7 myths that explore the theory and practice of biological monitoring and the use of multimetric indexes. The book explains: why biological monitoring and assessment are needed the historical evolution of biological monitoring how and why living systems give the best signals for diagnosing environmental degradation what multimetric indexes do and why they are effective how multimetric indexes can be used and common pitfalls to avoid in using them why many criticisms of biological indexes are not valid how the principles of biological monitoring and multimetric indexes can be expanded beyond aquatic systems to other environments how information from indexes can be integrated into the regulatory and policy framework Restoring Life in Running Waters provides practical and effective tools for managers and scientists seeking to understand the impact of human activities on natural systems and to determine proper action to remedy problems. It is an essential handbook for conservation biologists; agency personnel at all levels, including technical staff, policymakers, and program managers; and for anyone working to protect and restore the health of the nation's waters.

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