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Freshwater Ecosystems in
Protected Areas
Freshwater ecosystems have the greatest species diversity per unit area and many
endangered species. This book shows that, rather than being a marginal part
of terrestrial protected area management, freshwater conservation is central
to sustaining biodiversity. It focuses on better practices for conserving inland
aquatic ecosystems in protected areas, including rivers, wetlands, peatlands,
other freshwater and brackish ecosystems, and estuaries.
The authors define inland aquatic ecosystems, showing just how diverse and
widespread they are. They examine the principles and processes that are essential
for the conservation of freshwater ecosystems and aquatic species. Major catego-
ries of threats to freshwater ecosystems and the flow-on implications for protected
area design are described. Practical case studies are used to illustrate principles
and practices applied around the world. Specific management needs of the main
types of freshwater ecosystems are considered, as well as the management of
freshwaters in the broader landscape, showing how natural resource governance
processes can be harnessed to better manage freshwater biodiversity. The book
offers commentary on how to adapt freshwater conservation practices to climate
change and ends with an insightful synthesis.
C. Max Finlayson is Director of the Institute for Land, Water and Society and
Professor for Ecology and Biodiversity at Charles Sturt University, Australia, and
the Ramsar Chair for the Wise Use of Wetlands at IHE Delft, The Netherlands.
He is a visiting Professor at the Institute for Wetland Research in the China
Academy of Forestry.
For more information and to view forthcoming titles in this series, please visit the
Routledge website: http://www.routledge.com/books/series/ECWRM/
Freshwater Ecosystems in
Protected Areas
Typeset in Goudy
By Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
Contents
Index 273
Editor biographies
C. Max Finlayson is Director of the Institute for Land, Water and Society and
Professor for Ecology and Biodiversity at Charles Sturt University, Australia,
and the Ramsar Chair for the Wise Use of Wetlands at IHE Delft, The
Netherlands. He is a visiting Professor at the Institute for Wetland Research
in the China Academy of Forestry. His work covers the ecology and inventory
of wetlands, including the impacts of invasive species, water pollution and cli-
mate change, and policy and management responses. He has formerly worked
with the Australian Government, the International Water Management
Institute and Wetlands International and has been a technical advisor to the
Ramsar Convention on Wetlands since the early 1990s. He has been involved
in global assessments on climate change, biodiversity and ecosystem services,
water management, and the status of wetlands. In 2017 he was made a Fellow
of the Society of Wetland Scientists.
Angela H. Arthington is an Emeritus Professor in the Australian Rivers Institute,
Griffith University, Australia. She is a research ecologist focusing on river
and fish conservation, especially through the science and management of
environmental flows. Her research findings underpin several globally adopted
environmental flow frameworks (DRIFT, ELOHA). Angela has edited
three Special Issues on biodiversity conservation and environmental flows,
produced over 220 papers and book chapters, and numerous research and
consultancy reports for Australian and international agencies. Environmental
flows research culminated in “Environmental Flows: Saving Rivers in the
Third Millennium” (2012, University of California Press). Angela received
the honorary “Making a Difference Award” (2015) from the US Instream
Flow Council.
Jamie Pittock is an Associate Professor in the Fenner School of Environment and
Society at The Australian National University, Australia. His work focuses
on policies for conservation of freshwater biodiversity. In particular, he works
on the positive synergies and conflicts among policies for conservation of bio-
diversity, responses to climate change and supply of energy, food and water.
Prior to returning to academia in 2007, Jamie worked for a range of Australian
and international environmental organisations. He was Director of WWF
International’s global freshwater program from 2001–2007.
Contributor biographies
Robin Abell is with The Nature Conservancy’s Global Water Program. Her
work focuses on developing and advancing tools and approaches for freshwa-
ter biodiversity conservation. She was the lead for Freshwater Ecoregions of
the World, has explored how to incorporate freshwater biodiversity consid-
erations into commodity certification programs, has developed a framework
for freshwater protected areas, and most recently led an effort to quantify the
co-benefits of source water protection globally. Previously, she worked in
World Wildlife Fund US’s Conservation Science Program.
Ivan Arismendi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Fisheries and
Wildlife at Oregon State University, USA. He is a quantitative aquatic ecolo-
gist interested in the role of natural variability and human-related disturbances
on freshwaters across multiple spatial and temporal scales. His research focuses
on freshwater–terrestrial links, invasive species, and the consequences of cli-
mate change on freshwaters. He is also interested in issues related to diversity
and inclusion in science.
Lee Baumgartner is an Associate Research Professor specialising in fisheries and
river management issues and is based within the Institute for Land, Water and
Society at Charles Sturt University, Australia. Much of his research is applied
and has fed back into adaptive management strategies which have resulted in
state, national and global policy development. Recently, he has been involved
in research activities in the lower Mekong Basin; specifically understanding
mechanisms to help fisheries recover from human disturbance and quantifying
the value of fish in a food security context.
Diego Juffe Bignoli is a Senior Programme Officer in the Protected Areas pro-
gramme at the UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre
(UNEP-WCMC). He holds a bachelor degree in agronomy and a master’s
degree in environmental management. Diego has worked for five years in the
agribusiness sector and for over eight in conservation of nature. Previously,
he worked for the International Union for Conservation of Nature on The
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and on Key Biodiversity Areas and
Contributor biographies ix
This book is born of love of the freshwater ecosystems that are central to the lives
of people, and a myriad of animals and plants that live in these habitats. Sadly,
the debates on how best to conserve the planet’s biodiversity have not provided
effective conservation of our rivers, lakes and other wetlands. Fortunately, we
can learn from our colleagues who have been advocating for the conservation of
terrestrial, and more recently, marine ecosystems; they have made great strides
in developing more effective approaches, setting targets, and achieving change
through the establishment of extensive protected areas. However, the conserva-
tion of freshwater ecosystems has not benefitted from similar systematic planning
and management efforts.
This book brings together a wealth of knowledge on how to better conserve
inland aquatic ecosystems in protected areas, including rivers, other fresh water
ecosystems, brackish waters and coastal estuaries. We hope that the knowledge
provided by a talented team of expert authors from around the world will inspire
and inform non-government and government officials, protected area managers,
researchers and citizens to strive even harder to conserve these wonderful ecosys-
tems that underpin so much of our biodiversity and our societies.
Most nature reserves are designated as ‘terrestrial’ or ‘marine’ and the obvious
question for most managers is ‘why should I worry about the (usually) small por-
tion of my protected area that involves freshwater habitat, especially when water
is difficult to manage?’ On the contrary, we argue that freshwater and estuarine
habitats are particularly significant for conserving biodiversity and that protected
area managers need to apply the freshwater-specific principles and conservation
tools outlined in these chapters. Freshwater ecosystems have the greatest spe-
cies diversity per unit area, a larger portion of freshwater and estuarine species
are threatened, and the ecosystem services of these biomes are used unsustain-
ably to a greater extent than any other biomes. Many terrestrial species depend
on freshwater and estuarine ecosystems. Rather than forming a marginal aspect
of protected area management, freshwater conservation is central to sustaining
global biodiversity and societal well-being.
We start by defining inland aquatic ecosystems, showing just how diverse
they actually are, and that they occupy a larger area than commonly appreciated.
Preface xv
We then propose ecological principles and processes that are essential for the
conservation of freshwater ecosystems and aquatic species, recognising funda-
mental differences from terrestrial ecosystems. The specific management needs
of the main types of freshwater ecosystems are explored. Threats to freshwater
ecosystems are introduced, such as climate change, and the flow-on implications
for protected area design, management and interaction with people in the wider
landscape are examined. Case studies from around the world are used to illustrate
principles and practices.
Our wonderful array of freshwater ecosystems, flora and fauna need our help
to thrive in the 21st century. We hope that you are further encouraged by the
practical knowledge contained in these chapters to make an even greater contri-
bution to conservation of freshwater ecosystems.
Key messages
•• Effective management of freshwater ecosystems is critical as they have
the greatest species diversity per unit area, a larger portion of threatened
species, and use of their ecosystem services is generally unsustainable
compared with other ecosystems.
•• Rather than being treated as a marginal part of Protected Area (PA)
management, freshwater conservation is central to sustaining the global
biodiversity contained within the world’s PAs. Conserving freshwater
PAs based on ecological principles will also require specific conserva-
tion and management tools, including systematic conservation planning,
catchment management plans, appropriate water management prac-
tices such as the use of environmental flows, and natural resource
governance processes to ensure effective co-ordinated management at
landscape scale, taking into account on-site and off-site influences and
distant connectivities.
•• Decisions about the management of freshwater PAs in relation to national
policy settings as well as the settings provided by the Ramsar Convention
and the Aichi Biodiversity Targets will be particularly relevant to achiev-
ing the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. These goals are likely
to drive the conservation agenda in the coming decades. In the con-
text of this new global framework effective freshwater and estuarine
biodiversity conservation via PAs and surrounding landscape-scales of
management could be enhanced by integrating an international frame-
work and guidance for managing freshwater PAs under rising human
populations, increasing demands for food, water, energy and space, and
changing climatic regimes.
2 C.M. Finlayson, A.H. Arthington and J. Pittock
Figure 1.1 F reshwater ecosystems support a wide diversity of plants and animals
(photographs C.M. Finlayson).
Figure 1.1 (continued)
Introduction 5
previously thought and occur on all continents, although the data on wet-
land areas is still fraught with uncertainties over definitions and inaccuracies.
Milton and Finlayson show how recent analyses using remote sensing approaches
and GIS-based modelling have greatly extended the area and accuracy of areal
estimates, although differences with definitions and understanding of what con-
stitutes a freshwater ecosystem still remain. Combined estimates including those
for rivers, lakes and reservoirs (≥1 ha) and rice fields suggest permanent, seasonal,
and intermittent freshwater ecosystems globally cover 12,543.5–14,443.5 × 103 km2.
They further illustrate that the spatial extent of freshwater wetlands listed under
the Ramsar Convention maximally represents 13.6 to 15.6 per cent of the total
freshwater wetlands globally. While further analyses of representativeness and
effectiveness are needed these data suggest that globally there may be a sound
basis for meeting the Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 whereby at least 17 per cent
of inland water areas are conserved through effectively and equitably managed,
ecologically representative and well-connected systems of PAs (Armenteras
and Finlayson, 2012).
high level ecological principles as a basis for conserving the values of freshwater
ecosystems, and also, possibly even more importantly, as a basis for informed
communication including the development of more sophisticated messages and
motivations for conservation. In brief, the principles relate to: i) the intimate
links between freshwater ecosystems and the surrounding catchment (basin
or watershed); ii) the importance of the water regime (standing, flowing or
sub-surface); iii) the hydrological, biogeochemical and ecological connectiv-
ity within and between freshwater (and estuarine) ecosystems; iv) protecting
evolved patterns and ‘hot spots’ of native aquatic biodiversity, endemism and
endangered species; and v) maintenance of ecological resilience in the aquatic
ecosystems of the present and the future. Freshwater species have long histories
of exposure and adaptation to variable environmental conditions and extremes
(e.g. drought and floods), conferring resistance and resilience at the individual,
community and ecosystems levels. Maintaining catchment integrity, natu-
ral flow and standing water regimes, the spatial and temporal dimensions of
connectivity, and native biodiversity ‘hotspots’ will help to maintain the biodi-
versity and ecological resilience of aquatic systems in PAs, and support societal
adaptations to the shifting environmental and climatic regimes of the future
(Dudgeon et al., 2006). The principles we have proposed speak to the relation-
ships between people and water and the biodiversity components that support
our livelihoods and cultures by providing settings for human developments,
health and well-being.