Nic Pacini

Ecohydrology: processes, models and case studies: an approach to the sustainable management of water resources.

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 as well as from America, Australia and South Africa, give a broad global context.

Aquatic, Semi-Aquatic and Riparian Vertebrates

Publisher Summary Aquatic, semi-aquatic and terrestrial vertebrates play a very important role in energy flow, nutrient cycling, and riparian landscape engineering. The current geographic distribution of aquatic, semi-aquatic, and riparian species is a reflection of the abundance and variability of water supply in different regions. They are vulnerable to habitat degradation or alteration associated with flow regulation, irrigation schemes, and the conversion of floodplains to agriculture. Freshwater habitats provide food and shelter to a large number of vertebrates besides fish, but only a few are wholly adapted to inland waters. Semi-aquatic reptiles are represented by some of the most ancient living vertebrate species, which include the 23 species of crocodilians, two thirds of the 250 species of modern testudinids, and a small number of freshwater snakes. Semi-aquatic mammals such as otters and hippopotamuses display remarkable anatomical and physiological adaptations. And riparian species exhibit characteristic behavioral traits. Rivers serve as bio-corridors for aquatic and semi-aquatic vertebrates. The riparian mammals include some rodents and shrews, monkeys, buffaloes, antelopes, etc.

Water-quality management in a vulnerable large river: the Nile in Egypt

We review the severe water-management problems of the Nile Basin, where physical water scarcity is associated with high demographic growth, leading to a sharply rising demand for competing water uses such as hydropower and large-scale irrigation. Rapid economic growth is perceived as the means to emerge from the poverty trap that afflicts livelihoods in the Upper Basin and vital wetland ecosystem services such as fish biomass, freshwater biodiversity, groundwater recharge, flow regulation and local climate moderation are threatened by the water-development schemes and pollution that follow from this policy. Their cumulative impacts remain unaddressed. The High Aswan Dams impacts on freshwater biodiversity are incompletely understood; a significant number of species may have become threatened as a result of its construction. Today the reservoir water quality is high, it is thought to support 47 fish species, its local human activities are restricted by central government regulations and recent estimates indicate that eutrophication threats are unlikely. Sediment and nutrient inputs coming into it from upstream will, however, continue to decrease in the near future as a result of newly built and planned dams in the upper basin. The dams will also reduce discharge and cause further loss of connectivity between the river and its floodplain, exacerbated by the possible completion of the Jonglei Canal bypassing the Sudd swamps. These impacts will affect the Niles vulnerable aquatic biodiversity and regulatory services that are likely to affect local climate conditions. Under the current geopolitical scenario, management decisions that could favour participatory and sustainable options are over-ruled by high-level political trade-offs between the numerous riparian states. The financing of major hydropower developments by vested interests creates a scenario that is unlikely to favour sustainable resource management and conflict resolution.

The Value of an 1827 Cadastre Map in the Rehabilitation of Ecosystem Services in the Křemze Basin, Czech Republic

Abstract The analysis of land use and landscape structure changes over the last two centuries has allowed us to articulate proposals for the conservation and the rehabilitation of natural, aesthetic and historical landscape values in the Křemže Basin. Landscape assessment was based mainly on information extracted from Stabile Cadastre maps drawn in 1826–1827, supplemented by military maps from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and 1950s aerial photographs obtained historical archives. In the early nineteenth century, the landscape reflected a spatial order and a balance of regulatory and provisional ecosystem services as well as aesthetic appeal. The evolution of land use practices brought about by the industrial revolution period was associated with structural changes, such as fragmentation and homogenisation that impacted negatively on environmental stability. The restoration of selected elements, crucial for the preservation of landscape character as well as of cultural and aesthetic values, provides a chance to enhance the current structural diversity. This is of paramount importance for stabilising landscape functions and ecosystem services such as water cycling, nutrient processing, support to biodiversity, aesthetic appeal and transfer of educational values. The Stabile Cadastre maps offer an ideal baseline for streamlining the rehabilitation of selected natural, aesthetic and historical landscape features that can be reappraised during participatory processes with the contribution of local communities.