E-Book Overview
This book presents the most comprehensive model yet for describing the structure and functioning of running freshwater ecosystems. This ''riverine ecosystem synthesis'' (RES) is a result of combining several theories published in recent decades, dealing with aquatic and terrestrial systems. New analyses are fused with a variety of new perspectives on how river network ecosystems are structured and function, and how they change along longitudinal, lateral, and temporal dimensions. Among these novel perspectives is a dramatically new view of the role of hydrogeomorphic forces in forming functional process zones from headwaters to the mouths of great rivers. Designed as a useful tool for aquatic scientists worldwide whether they work on small streams or great rivers and in forested or semi-arid regions, this book will provide a means for scientists to understand the fundamental and applied aspects of rivers in general and includes a practical guide and protocols for analyzing individual rivers. This combination of theoretical and applied analysis is quite unique in running freshwater ecology. Specific examples of rivers in at least four continents (Africa, Australia, Europe and North America) serve to illustrate the power and utility of the RES concept. . Develops the classic, seminal article in River Research and Applications, ''A Model of Biocomplexity in River Networks Across Space and Time'' which introduced the RES concept for the first time . Provides a guide to the practical analysis of individual rivers using the Riverine Ecosystems Synthesis and extends its use from pristine ecosystems to modern, human-modified rivers. . An essential aid both to the study fundamental and applied aspects of rivers, such as rehabilitation, management, monitoring, assessment, and flow manipulation of river networks.
E-Book Content
The Riverine Ecosystem Synthesis Toward Conceptual Cohesiveness in River Science
AQUATIC ECOLOGY Series Series Editor
James H. Thorp Kansas Biological Survey University of Kansas Lawrence, Kansas
Other titles in the series:
Groundwater Ecology Janine Gilbert, Dan L. Danielopol, Jack A. Stanford
Algal Ecology R. Jan Stevenson, Max L. Bothwell, Rex L. Lowe
Streams and Ground Waters Jeremy B. Jones, Patrick J. Mulholland
Freshwater Ecology Walter K. Dodds
Ecology and Classification of North American Freshwater Invertebrates James H. Thorp, Alan P. Covich
Aquatic Ecosystems Stuart E. G. Findlay, Robert L. Sinsabaugh
Tropical Stream Ecology David Dudgeon
Riverine Ecosystem Synthesis James H. Thorp, Martin C. Thoms, Michael D. Delong
The Riverine Ecosystem Synthesis Toward Conceptual Cohesiveness in River Science
James H. Thorp Senior Scientist Kansas Biological Survey University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas USA Professor Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Martin C. Thoms Professor Riverine Landscape Research Laboratory University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, Australia and
Michael D. Delong Professor Large River Studies Center and Department of Biology, Winona State University, Winona Minnesota USA
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Academic Press is an imprint of Elsevier 84 Theobald’s Road, London WC1X 8RR, UK Radarweg 29, PO Box 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam, The Netherlands Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP, UK 30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400 Burlington, MA 01803, USA 525 B Street, Suite 1900, San Diego, CA 92101 4495, USA First edition 2008 Copyright 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical,