M. Zalewski - Böcker

Ecotones are interface zones between different ecosystems. Their ecological role and significance with regard to ecological management and conservation has become increasingly appreciated. For the management of freshwater resources, for example, an improved understanding of the role of land/inland water interfaces, will be essential for reducing negative human impacts by engineering, nutrient loading, siltation, for example. The management of ecotones, on the other hand, offers the possibility to control aquatic system processes via stock control of fish populations. Fish, apparently, are both excellent indicators of ecotone quality as well as determiners of its structure and function.

Ecohydrology is an emerging new sub-discipline which links elements of ecology with hydrology at all points in the water cycle, ranging in scale from water-plant physiological relationships to whole catchment water-ecosystem processes. This book pays most attention to the larger scales of ecohydrology, emphasising the use of this tool in striving towards the goal of sustainable water management. Authors from Eastern as well as Western Europe; from America, Australia and South Africa, give a broad global context.