Fundamentals of Tropical Freshwater Wetlands

Fundamentals of Tropical Freshwater Wetlands: From Ecology to Conservation Management is a practical guide and important tool for practitioners and educators interested in the ecology, conservation and management of wetlands in tropical/subtropical regions. The book is written in such a way that, in addition to scientists and managers, it is accessible to non-specialist readers. Organized into three themed sections and twenty-three chapters, this volume covers a variety of topics, exposing the reader to a full range of scientific, conservation and management issues. Each chapter has been written by specialists in the topic being presented.

The book recognizes that wetland conservation, science and management are interlinked disciplines, and so it attempts to combine several perspectives to highlight the interdependence between the various professions that deal with issues in these environments. Within each chapter extensive cross-referencing is included, so as to help the reader link related aspects of the issues being discussed.

Autorentext
Dr Tatenda Dalu is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biology and Environmental Sciences and Leader of the Aquatic Systems Research Group at University of Mpumalanga, Honorary Research Associate at the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, and a member of the Alien Species Risk Assessment Review Panel of South Africa and British Ecological Society Grants Committee. He is a United Nations Global Environment Outlook 7 Contributing Author, Associate Editor for Aquatic Invasions, African Journal of Ecology, BioInvasions Records, Ecology and Evolution and Frontiers in Water Environmental Water Quality, and Editorial Board Member for Science of the Total Environment and Environmental Advances. He has Guest Edited for Frontiers in Water and Frontiers in Environmental Science. He is an expert in freshwater riverine, wetland and reservoir ecosystems mainly using phytoplankton, invertebrates, and fish as study organisms. He has previously co-edited two books for Elsevier on Fundamentals of Tropical Freshwater Wetlands: From Ecology to Conservation Management and Emerging Freshwater Pollutants: Analysis, Fate, and Regulation. Working with fellow research colleagues, Dr Dalu has identified and described two new species in South Africa (Copepod Lovenula raynerae) and Zimbabwe (Fairy shrimp Streptocephalus sangoensis). Prof Ryan J. Wasserman is an Associate Professor of Zoology in the Department of Zoology and Entomology at Rhodes University, an Adjunct Research Fellow at Monash University Malaysia and a Research Associate at South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity. His research interests lie in interactions among aquatic organisms and how these interactions drive distribution and abundance. He is particularly interested in trophic dynamics, invasion and climate change ecology within the context of intra and interspecific interactions.

Inhalt

1. Freshwater wetlands: An introduction

   ABIOTIC PROPERTIES AND PROCESSES 2. Factors controlling wetland formation 3. Hydrology, geomorphology and soils: An overview 4. Physico-chemical environment wetlands 5. Carbon sequestration and fluxes 6. Nutrient cycling

   BIOTA AND BIOTIC PROCESSES 7. Vegetation 8. Phytoplankton dynamics 9. Zooplankton 10. Large branchiopods 11. Macroinvertebrates 12. Fish 13. Amphibians and squamates in Amazonian flooded habitats, with a study on the variation of amphibian assemblages along the Solimoes River 14. Management of waterbirds in a Kalahari pan ecosystem 15. A snapshot of parasites in tropical and subtropical freshwater wetlands: Modest attention for major player 16. Impacts of alien invasive species on large wetlands 17. Food webs 18. Metacommunity structure and dynamics

   MONITORING, CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT 19. Vegetated wetlands: From ecology to conservation management 20. Introduction to wetland monitoring 21. GIS and remote sensing analytics: Assessment and monitoring 22. Institutional, policy and legal nexus and implications 23. Indigenous people s participation and the management of wetlands in Africa: A review of the Ramsar Convention