Stream Ecology Structure and Function of Running Waters

About this book

Stream Ecology: Structure and Function of Running Waters is designed to serve as a textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, and as a reference source for specialists in stream ecology and related fields. This Third Edition is thoroughly updated and expanded to incorporate significant advances in our understanding of environmental factors, biological interactions, and ecosystem processes, and how these vary with hydrological, geomorphological, and landscape setting.

The broad diversity of running waters – from torrential mountain brooks, to large, lowland rivers, to great river systems whose basins occupy sub-continents – makes river ecosystems appear overwhelming complex. A central theme of this book is that although the settings are often unique, the processes at work in running waters are general and increasingly well understood.

Even as our scientific understanding of stream ecosystems rapidly advances, the pressures arising from diverse human activities continue to threaten the health of rivers worldwide. This book presents vital new findings concerning human impacts, and the advances in pollution control, flow management, restoration, and conservation planning that point to practical solutions.

Contents

Dedication
Preface to the Third Edition
Acknowledgements
Preface to the Second Edition

1. Rivers in the Anthropocene
2. Streamflow
3. Fluvial Geomorphology
4. Stream Chemistry
5. The Abiotic Environment
6. Primary Producers
7. Detrital Energy and the Decompposition of Organic Matter
8. Stream Microbial Ecology
9. Trophic Relationships
10. Species Interactions
11. Lotic Communities
12.Energy Flow and Nutrient Cycling in Aquatic Communities
13. Nutrient Dynamics
14. Carbon Dynamics and Stream Ecosystem Metabolism
15. How We Manage Rivers, And Why

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Biography

David J. Allan is Professor Emeritus at the School of Natural Resources & Environment, at the University of Michigan. His work emphasizes the application of ecological knowledge to species conservation and ecosystem management. Research interests centre on the influence of human activities on the condition of rivers and their watersheds, including the effects of land use on stream health, assessment of variation in flow regime, and estimation of nutrient loads and budgets. Additional, collaborative activities are directed at the translation of aquatic science into useful products for the management, conservation, and restoration of running waters. He has authored many publications and multiple books, including the previous editions of Stream Ecology published by Springer.