ECOLOGY OF FRESH WATERS
Man and Medium, Past to Future
BRIAN MOSS
THIRD EDITION
Contents
Introduction: the Pantanal
- The environmental theatre
- The evolutionary play
- The freshwater part of the stage
- The Pantanal
- End of the overture
On Living in Water
- Properties of water
- Land and water habitats and the evolution of
- aquatic organisms
- Time and fleetingness – a fundamental difference between freshwater and marine ecosystems
From Atmosphere to Stream: the Chemical Birth of Fresh waters
- Dissolving of atmospheric gases and the acidity of rain
- Contribution of sea spray to rain
- Atmospheric pollution
- The composition of watr draining from the catchments
- Effects of soil development and vegetation on the chemistry of drainage waters
- Effects of human activities on the composition of drainage waters
- The water rolls downhill
Erosive Streams and Rivers
- Upland streams – three general questions
- Sources of food and energy flow in erosive streams
- Stream communities
- Erosive streams and human activities
- Alterations to upland streams by human activities
Lowland Rivers, their Floodplains and wetlands
- Submerged plants
- Growth of submerged plants
- Methods of measuring the primary productivity of submerged plants
- Submerged plants and the river ecosystem
- Further downstream – swamps and flood-plains
- Swamp and marsh animals
- Human societies of floodplains
- Floodplain fisheries
- Modification of floodplain ecosystems
- Drainage and other alterations to floodplain ecosystems
- Lowland river channels
- Interbasin transfers and water needs
Lakes, Pools and Other Standing Waters: Some Basic Features of their Productivity
- Exorheic lakes
- The essential features and parts of a lake
- General models of lake production
- Eutrophication and acidification – human-induced changes in the production of lakes
- Acidification
- Variations on the theme – other standing waters
The Plankton and Fish Communities of the Open water of Lakes
- The structure of the plankton community – phytoplankton
- Microconsumers of the phytoplankton – bacteria
- Protozoa and fungi – zooplankton
- Fish in the open-water community
- Functioning of the open-water community
- Seasonal change in the plankton
- Practical applications of plankton biology: treatment of eutrophication by biomanipulation in deep lakes
The Littoral and Profundal Communities of Lakes
- A variety of habitats – submerged plant communities in lakes
- Competition between submerged plants and phytoplankton
- Bare rocks and sandy littoral habitats
- Relationships between the littoral zone and the open water
- The Profundal benthos
- Influence of the open-water community on the Profundal benthos
Fish and Fisheries in Lakes
- Some basic fish biology
- Choice of fish for a fishery
- Measurement of fish production
- Commercial fisheries
- The North Buvuma Island fishery
- Approximate methods for yield assessment
- Changes in fisheries
- Fish culture
- Still-water angling
The Birth, Development and Extinction of Lakes
- Man-made lakes
- The development of lake ecosystems
- Sources of information in sediments
- Examples of lake development
- Filling in of shallow lakes
- Patterns in the development of lakes and the concept of natural eutrophication
Fresh Waters, the World and the Future
- Trends in freshwater scince
- Advances in monitoring techniques
- Solving the problems
- Alternative states and human societies
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