A Practitioner's Guide to Freshwater Biodiversity Conservation brings together knowledge and experience from conservation practitioners and experts around the world to help readers understand the global challenge of conserving biodiversity in freshwater ecosystems. More importantly, it offers specific strategies and suggestions for managers to use in establishing new conservation initiatives or improving the effectiveness of existing initiatives. The book: offers an understanding of fundamental issues by explaining how ecosystems are structured and how they support biodiversity; provides specific information and approaches for identifying areas most in need of protection; examines promising strategies that can help reduce biodiversity loss; and describes design considerations and methods for measuring success within an adaptive management framework. The book draws on experience and knowledge gained during a five-year project of The Nature Conservancy known as the Freshwater Initiative, which brought together a range of practitioners to create a learning laboratory for testing ideas, approaches, tools, strategies, and methods. For professionals involved with land or water management-including state and federal agency staff, scientists and researchers working with conservation organizations, students and faculty involved with freshwater issues or biodiversity conservation, and policymakers concerned with environmental issues-the book represents an important new source of information, ideas, and approaches.

Discover the intricate web of life and unlock the secrets of our planet with "Mastering Ecology: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding and Protecting the Environment." Delve into the fascinating world of ecology as you journey through ten insightful chapters covering everything from population dynamics and community interactions to global ecosystems and the future of our planet. Gain a deep understanding of ecological principles, explore the interconnectedness of species and habitats, and learn how human activities impact the delicate balance of nature. With over 100 sections packed with knowledge and practical insights, this book equips readers with the tools they need to become stewards of the environment. Whether you're a student, researcher, educator, or simply passionate about the natural world, "Mastering Ecology" is your essential companion for exploring, understanding, and safeguarding the diversity of life on Earth.

This new volume examines the ecological importance, threats, protection, and management of the biodiversity of freshwater ecosystems, such as lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, reservoirs, pools, and wetlands. As populations have been increasing exponentially, humans are using freshwater ecosystems severely, resulting in habitat destruction and breakdown. Environmental contamination, climate change, the introduction of harmful and invasive organisms, unplanned dredging and de-weeding processes, disposal of sewer systems in freshwater bodies, and badly planned water diversions are the leading causes of habitat loss in freshwaters. These impacts have led to significant decreases in the numbers and productivity of many freshwater species and decreased biodiversity in freshwater. This book presents a selection of primary research and review papers on several freshwater aquatic biodiversity studies, which involve evaluating plants, macroinvertebrates, macrophytes, benthic zones, and fish diversity in freshwater ecosystems. It provides an abundance of new information on freshwater biodiversity distribution, status, and patterns. Key features: Discusses the importance, threats, and management of biodiversity of freshwater ecosystems Provides detailed coverage of modern and updated techniques used in the evaluation and conservation of freshwater biodiversity Looks at the impact of pesticides pollution on freshwater environs, and on aquatic and terrestrial life Reviews how global climate change affects freshwater biodiversity Biodiversity of Freshwater Ecosystems: Threats, Protection, and Management promotes the enhancement and strengthening of freshwater protection and its unique biodiversity for scientists, policymakers, scholars, researchers, NGOs, and the public, providing necessary background knowledge and practical tools to help manage aquatic ecosystems and their biodiversity in a holistic manner.

Over the years, the scope of our scientific understanding and technical skills in ecology and environmental science have widened significantly, with increasingly greater emphasis on societal issues. In this book, an attempt has been made to give basic concepts of ecology, environmental science and various aspects of natural resource conservation. The topics covered primarily deal with environmental factors affecting organisms, adaptations, biogeography, ecology of species populations and species interactions, biotic communities and ecosystems, environmental pollution, stresses caused by toxics, global environmental change, exotic species invasion, conservation of biodiversity, ecological restoration, impact assessment, application of remote sensing and geographical information system for analysis and management of natural resources, and approaches of ecological economics. The main issues have been discussed within the framework of sustainability, considering humans as part of ecosystems, and recognising that sustainable development requires integration of ecology with social sciences for policy formulation and implementation.

The report provides an overview of development finance with biodiversity-related objectives from a wide range of sources: bilateral Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members, non-DAC and South-South and triangular co-operation providers, multilateral institutions, private finance mobilised by development finance, and private philanthropy. The estimates are based on OECD statistical data.

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

Freshwater Fishes of North-Eastern Australia provides details of the ecology, systematics, biogeography and management of 79 species of native fish present in the region. It includes detailed information on their identification, evolutionary history, breeding biology, feeding ecology, movement patterns, macro-, meso- and micro-habitat use, water quality tolerances, conservation status and current threats, as well as environmental flow and management needs. Based on the results of extensive field surveys and a comprehensive review of existing literature, it is designed to assist environmental practitioners and managers to make informed decisions about future management strategies. It will also encourage a greater research effort into the region’s aquatic fauna by providing a comprehensive resource that enables other researchers to adopt a more quantitative and strategic framework for their research. Joint winner of the 2005 Whitley Medal.

This practical manual of freshwater ecology and conservation provides a state-of-the-art review of the approaches and techniques used to measure, monitor, and conserve freshwater ecosystems. It offers a single, comprehensive, and accessible synthesis of the vast amount of literature for freshwater ecology and conservation that is currently dispersed in manuals, toolkits, journals, handbooks, 'grey' literature, and websites. Successful conservation outcomes are ultimately built on a sound ecological framework in which every species must be assessed and understood at the individual, community, catchment and landscape level of interaction. For example, freshwater ecologists need to understand hydrochemical storages and fluxes, the physical systems influencing freshwaters at the catchment and landscape scale, and the spatial and temporal processes that maintain species assemblages and their dynamics. A thorough understanding of all these varied processes, and the techniques for studying them, is essential for the effective conservation and management of freshwater ecosystems.