Marino Gatto - Böcker

River networks are critically important ecosystems. This interdisciplinary book provides an integrated ecohydrological framework blending laboratory, field, and theoretical evidence that changes our understanding of river networks as ecological corridors. It describes how the physical structure of the river environment impacts biodiversity, species invasions, population dynamics, and the spread of waterborne disease. State-of-the-art research on the ecological roles of the structure of river networks is summarized, including important studies on the spread and control of waterborne diseases, biodiversity loss due to water resource management, and invasions by non-native species. Practical implications of this research are illustrated with numerous examples throughout. This is an invaluable go-to reference for graduate students and researchers interested in river ecology and hydrology, and the links between the two. Describing new related research on spatially-explicit modeling of the spread of waterborne disease, this book will also be of great interest to epidemiologists and public health managers.

This textbook provides basic quantitative models allowing researchers and decision makers to a) assess viability of threatened populations and evaluate the success of species reintroductions, b) estimate invasion abilities of alien species, c) evaluate the persistence of metapopulations subjected to habitat destruction and fragmentation, d) analyze policies and strategies for the sustainable harvesting of biological resources, and e) assess the course of human and nonhuman diseases and the possible containment measures. Air and water pollution, overexploitation of renewable resources (e.g. marine fish stocks and forests), massive land-use change together with climate change impact the Earth biodiversity and impair the functioning of ecosystems. Globalization increases the risk of diffusion of alien species and new pathogens.A panoply of numerical problems mainly based on real data from the ecological literature enables the reader to practice the presented modelling tools.presented modelling tools.