Wetlands occur expansively all over the world in all the climatic zones, exhibit enormous diversity according to their genesis, geographical location, water regime and chemistry, dominant plants and sediment characters; providing food, fiber and raw materials, storm and flood control, clean water supply, scenic beauty and educational and recreational benefits. Besides, biotic-abiotic components and human inhabitants, the subsistence of these unique natural resources is under intimidation due to developmental activities, population pressure and anthropogenic stress; calls for a long term planning for preservation and conservation of these resources. The present book “Wetland Monitoring: A Practical Approach towards Eutrophication” focuses on abiotic components (hydrochemistry and geochemistry), biotic components (phytoplankton, zooplankton, aquatic macrophytes), biochemical profiling, degree of eutrophication, delineation of trophodynamics, metal accumulation, concentration, transport, and mobility of metals, and environmental modeling of significant wetlands of Central Gujarat, India. This book would certainly be useful and handy tool for students, academicians, researchers, scientists, practitioners and wetland managers at regional, national and global scale.

Remote sensing has been successfully applied in monitoring of protected areas around the world. With intensified impacts of climate and environmental change, protected areas become increasingly important to serve as indicators of and buffers against the impacts of the disturbances. Remote sensing plays an irreplaceable role in this frontline of challenges. The subjects and contents of the articles collected in this book reflect the state-of-the-art applications of remote sensing for capturing dynamics of environmental and ecological variations of the protected areas. The examples include revealing the level, growth rate, trend, and distribution pattern of the night-time light of global protected areas; quantifying the energy budget, water cycle, and carbon sink over the Three-River Headwaters Region in the hinterland of the Tibetan Plateau; monitoring wetland change in a cross-boundary zone between Northeast China and the Russian Far East; and monitoring applications and change analyses in protected areas of boreal forests, dryland shrubs, coastal salt marshes, large lakes, and temperate semi-humid to semi-arid transitional agricultural regions, using a variety of sensor data with innovative approaches. Also included in this collection is a bibliometric analysis that suggests the intellectual structure in remote sensing of protected areas from the perspective of journal publications.

Wetlands are among the world’s most productive environments with countless species of plants and animals, as well as humans, dependent upon them for survival. Moreover, they provide many societal benefits including water quality improvement, flood storage, shoreline erosion control, and opportunities for recreation, education, and research. The conservation of inland wetlands is thus critical, and it is vital that they are protected in situ. The Handbook of Research on Monitoring and Evaluating the Ecological Health of Wetlands highlights the challenges of wetland conservation and current scenarios of existing wetlands and their effective management. The book also promotes the inventory, assessment, and monitoring of wetlands through a discussion of practical approaches, methodologies, and techniques. The strategies covered in this book can be applied in situ, depending on the wetland in which they will be applied. It covers the most cost-effective techniques in conservation of wetland technologies and the most cutting-edge research on monitoring of wetland health and its applications. Covering topics such as forest soil, greenhouse gasses, and ecological rejuvenation, it is an ideal resource for conservators, environmentalists, executives, policymakers, government officials, professionals, researchers, academicians, and students working in ecological management and wetland conservation fields.

The lands and waters of the Mid-Atlantic Region (MAR) have changed significantly since before the 16th century when the Susquehannock lived in the area. Much has changed since Captain John Smith penetrated the estuaries and rivers during the early 17th century; since the surveying of the Mason-Dixon Line to settle border disputes among Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware during the middle of the 18th century; and since J. Thomas Scharf described the physiographic setting of Baltimore County in the late 19th century. As early as 1881, Scharf provides us with an assessment of the condition of the aquatic ecosystems of the region, albeit in narrative form, and already changes are taking place – the conversion of forests to fields, the founding of towns and cities, and the depletion of natural resources. We have always conducted our work with the premise that “man” is part of, and not apart from, this ecosystem and landscape. This premise, and the historical changes in our landscape, provide the foundation for our overarching research question: how do human activities impact the functioning of aquatic ecosystems and the ecosystem services that they provide, and how can we optimize this relationship?

Provides the tools needed to control and remediate the quality of natural water systems Now in its Second Edition, this acclaimed text sets forth core concepts and principles that govern the fate and transport of contaminants in water, giving environmental and civil engineers and students a full set of tools to design systems that effectively control and remediate the quality of natural waters. Readers will find coverage of all major classes of water bodies. Moreover, the author discusses the terrestrial fate and transport of contaminants in watersheds, underscoring the link between terrestrial loadings and water pollution. Water-Quality Engineering in Natural Systems begins with an introduction exploring the sources of water pollution and the control of water pollution. It then presents the fundamentals of fate and transport, including the derivation and application of the advection–diffusion equation. Next, the text covers issues that are unique to: Rivers and streams Groundwater Watersheds Lakes and reservoirs Wetlands Oceans and estuaries The final two chapters are dedicated to analyzing water-quality measurements and modeling water quality. This Second Edition is thoroughly updated based on the latest findings, practices, and standards. In particular, readers will find new methods for calculating total maximum daily loads for river contaminants, with specific examples detailing the fate and transport of bacteria, a pressing problem throughout the world. With end-of-chapter problems and plenty of worked examples, Water-Quality Engineering in Natural Systems enables readers to not only understand what happens to contaminants in water, but also design systems to protect people from toxic pollutants.

This revised edition takes the theme of place as the unifying principle for a full account of the discipline at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The work comprises 64 substantial essays addressing human and physical geography, and exploring their inter-relations. The encyclopedia does full justice to the enormous growth of social and cultural geography in recent years. Leading international academics from ten countries and four continents have contributed, ensuring that differing traditions in geography around the world are represented. In addition to references, the essays also have recommendations for further reading. As with the original work, the new Companion Encyclopedia of Geography provides a state-of-the-art survey of the discipline and is an indispensable addition to the reference shelves of libraries supporting research and teaching in geography.

The study used a combination of landscape-scale synoptic surveys (catchment, reaches) and mesocosm surveys (experimental plots) to assess the impacts of conversion of natural valley-bottom wetlands to farming land on the water quality and retention of sediment and nutrients. The results showed that temperature, pH, electrical conductivity and dissolved oxygen concentration decreased, and total suspended solids (TSS) increased with storm water increase. Nitrogen (TN) and phosphorus (TP) accumulated in the catchment during the dry season and washed into the water courses during the early stages of the higher flows, with subsequent lower concentrations at the end of the rains due to dilution. Large proportions of the annual loads of TSS, TP and TN (93%, 60% and 67%, respectively) were transported during rainfall events that occurred in 115 days. Fishponds acted as temporal traps of TSS, TN and TP at the early stages of farming, and were a source of and TN and TP at the end of the farming period, in contrast to rice farming that generated sediments and nutrients early in the farming period and trapped them at the end of the farming season. Wetlands mostly acted as sinks but sometimes as a source of sediment and nutrients.

Uganda's Nakivubo swamp has been receiving wastewater from Kampala for over 30 years and consists of a floating root mat. It's potential to remove nutrients and pathogens from wastewater in a sustainable way, while maintaining ecological quality and biodiversity, is investigated in this work.

This text explains what constitutes good practice in applying environmental assessment as an environmental management tool. A wide range of case studies and other student text features are employed to demonstrate how the different methods, techniques and disciplines of environmental assessment can be used. The authors address the key concepts for environmental assessment procedures: methods for using E.A.; techniques for impact prediction and evaluation; environmental risk assessment; EA consultation and participation; project management; environmental statement review and post-project analysis; and strategic environmental assessment. Worldwide case studies include: gas pipelines, hydroelectric power plants, gold mining, river crossings, waste-to-energy plants and gravel extraction in England, Scotland, Ireland, Canada, the USA, Venezuela, the Netherlands, Iceland, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Ghana.