The Clean Water Act (CWA) requires that wetlands be protected from degradation because of their important ecological functions including maintenance of high water quality and provision of fish and wildlife habitat. However, this protection generally does not encompass riparian areasâ€"the lands bordering rivers and lakesâ€"even though they often provide the same functions as wetlands. Growing recognition of the similarities in wetland and riparian area functioning and the differences in their legal protection led the NRC in 1999 to undertake a study of riparian areas, which has culminated in Riparian Areas: Functioning and Strategies for Management. The report is intended to heighten awareness of riparian areas commensurate with their ecological and societal values. The primary conclusion is that, because riparian areas perform a disproportionate number of biological and physical functions on a unit area basis, restoration of riparian functions along America's waterbodies should be a national goal.

The assessment of the ecological integrity of running waters is a prerequisite to an understanding of the effects of human alterations. The evaluation of degradation processes provides key information on how to avoid further negative impacts. The success of future conservation, mitigation and restoration activities will rely on sound assessment methodologies and their ecological relevance and applicability. Assessment methodologies are therefore an integral part of sustainable river management. This book synthesizes and discusses state-of-the-art experiences in assessment methodologies. Including the latest knowledge on structures, processes and functions of running waters as a fundamental basis for developing adequate assessment methods, the book focuses on method development, application, and in particular on integrated assessment methods. This book is directed at scientists and managers with the aim of more effective preservation, restoration and maintenance of the ecological integrity of running water ecosystems.

This annotated bibliography contains 1,905 citations from professional journals, symposia, workshops, proceedings, technical reports, and other sources. The intent of this compilation was to: (1) assemble, to the extent possible, all available and accessible publications relating to riparian management within a single source or document; (2) provide managers, field biologists, researchers, and others, a point of access for locating scientific literature relevent to their specific interest; and (3) provide, under one cover, a comprehensive collection of annotated publications that could dessiminate basic information relative to the status of our knowledge.

Methods in Stream Ecology: Volume 2: Ecosystem Structure, Third Edition, provides a complete series of field and laboratory protocols in stream ecology that are ideal for teaching or conducting research. This new two-part edition is updated to reflect recent advances in the technology associated with ecological assessment of streams, including remote sensing. Volume two covers community interactions, ecosystem processes and ecosystem quality. With a student-friendly price, this new edition is key for all students and researchers in stream and freshwater ecology, freshwater biology, marine ecology and river ecology. This book is also supportive as a supplementary text for courses in watershed ecology/science, hydrology, fluvial geomorphology and landscape ecology. Methods in Stream Ecology, 3rd Edition, Volume 1: Ecosystem Structure, is also available now! - Provides a variety of exercises in each chapter - Includes detailed instructions, illustrations, formulae and data sheets for in-field research for students - Presents taxonomic keys to common stream invertebrates and algae - Includes website with tables and a links written by leading experts in stream ecology