River Ecology and Management: Lessons from the Pacific Coastal Ecoregion

Touching all parts of the natural environment and nearly all aspects of human culture, streams and rivers act as centers of organization within landscapes. They provide natural resources such as fish and clean water, transportation, energy, diffusion of wastes, and recreation. Today, with unprecedented demands on streams and rivers by an exponentially increasing human population, a basic ecological understanding of the structure and dynamics of running waters is essential for formulating sound management and policy decisions. The vast Pacific coastal ecoregion of the United States contains an extraordinary array of physical settings and examples of the range of dynamics associated with rivers and their management. The interface between the science and policy of natural resource management is illustrated by examples from this ecoregion, including the protection of riparian forest, the marbled murrelet, salmon, and amphibians. River Ecology and Management: Lessons from the Pacific Coastal Ecoregion includes sections on the Physical Environment, the Biotic Environment, Ecosystem Processes, Management, and Recommendations for the Future. Specific topics include channel dynamics, hydrology, water quality, microbial processes, primary production, fish and wildlife, riparian forest dynamics, organic matter and trophic dynamics, biogeochemical cycling, maintaining biodiversity, monitoring and assessment, economic perspectives, legal considerations, and the role of non-governmental organizations in river management.

Table of Contents:
1 River Ecology and Management in the Pacific Coastal Ecoregion.- I The Physical Environment.- 2 Channel Processes, Classification, and Response.- 3 Hydrology.- 4 Stream Quality.- II The Biotic Environment.- 5 Biotic Stream Classification.- 6 Microorganisms and Organic Matter Decomposition.- 7 Primary Production.- 8 Stream Macroinvertebrate Communities.- 9 Fish Communities.- 10 Riparian Wildlife.- III Ecosystem Processes.- 11 Dynamic Landscape Systems.- 12 Riparian Forests.- 13 Function and Distribution of Large Woody Debris.- 14 Nutrient Cycles and Responses to Disturbance.- 15 Organic Matter and Trophic Dynamics.- 16 The Hyporheic Zone.- 17 Biodiversity.- IV Management.- 18 Statistical Design and Analysis Considerations for Monitoring and Assessment.- 19 Cumulative Watershed Effects and Watershed Analysis.- 20 Rivers as Sentinels: Using the Biology of Rivers to Guide Landscape Management.- 21 Social Organizations and Institutions.- 22 River Law.- 23 Economic Perspectives.- V The Future.- 24 Stream and Watershed Restoration.- 25 Nonprofit Organizations and Watershed Management.- 26 Watershed Management.- 27 Paradigms, Policies, and Prognostication about the Management of Watershed Ecosystems.- Appendix: Reviewers.

Review :
"The wealth of science and literature in the book renders it a useful summary and reference for aquatic and watershed researchers, and most of the concepts and applications extend beyond the ecoregion!.The lessons to be learned from the history, conceptual paradigms, research findings, and management approaches presented in this book are many and varied." --Ecology