Freshwater Ecology and Conservation Approaches and Techniques

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.

1 - Diversity of freshwater ecosystems and global distributions
2 - Approaches to freshwater ecology and conservation
3 - Sampling strategies and protocols for freshwater ecology and conservation
4 - Water quantity and hydrology
5 - Chemical determinands of freshwater ecosystem functioning
6 - Physical variables in freshwater ecosystems
7 - Microorganisms 1: Phytoplankton, attached algae, and biofilms
8 - Microorganisms 2: Viruses, prokaryotes, fungi, protozoans, and microscopic metazoans
9 - Wetland plants and aquatic macrophytes
10 - Freshwater vertebrates: An overview of survey design and key methodological considerations
11 - Aquatic macroinvertebrates
12 - Freshwater populations, interactions, and networks
13 - Changes over time
14 - Secondary data: Taking advantage of existing data and improving data availability for supporting freshwater ecology research and biodiversity conservation
15 - Freshwater ecosystem services and functions
16 - Invasive aquatic species
17 - Freshwater ecosystem security and climate change
18 - Restoration of freshwaters: Principles and practice
19 - Wetland landscapes and catchment management

Jocelyne Hughes has over 30 years experience of teaching and research in ecology and conservation. She graduated from the University of Cambridge, UK, with a degree in Geography and undertook her PhD at the University of Tasmania. It was in Australia that Jocelyne focused on freshwater ecology and conducted field research into the ecology of aquatic macrophytes in riverine wetlands in Tasmania, and the lakes of sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island. Since then, she has worked as a researcher and lecturer at the University of Oxford, University of Melbourne, University College London and University of Reading, has conducted research into the ecology and conservation of wetlands in Tunisia, Guatemala and the UK, and teaches field techniques in wetlands in the UK and overseas.