Professor Brian Moss retired from the University of Liverpool following a career in Africa, the USA and the UK. He was awarded medals by the International Society of Limnology, of which he was President from 2007 to 2013, and the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management. He was given the International Institute of Ecology Prize for Excellence in Ecology in 2009 and the book written for that prize, Liberation Ecology, received the British Ecological Society's Marsh Book of the Year Award in 2013.

Preface: why? xiii

1 The world as it was and the world as it is 1

1.1 Early ecological history 1

1.2 The more recent past 5

1.3 Characteristics of freshwater organisms 7

1.4 Freshwater biodiversity 8

1.5 A spanner in the works? 11

1.6 Politics and pollution 14

1.7 On the nature of textbooks 15

1.8 Further reading 17

2 Early evolution and diversity of freshwater organisms 18

2.1 Introduction 18

2.2 The freshwater biota 19

2.3 Bacteria 20

2.4 The variety of bacteria 22

2.5 Viruses 24

2.6 Two sorts of cells 25

2.7 The diversity of microbial eukaryotes 27

2.8 Algae 28

2.9 Kingdoms of eukaryotes 30

2.10 Further reading 37

3 Diversity continued: multicellular organisms in freshwaters 38

3.1 Introduction 38

3.2 Osmoregulation 38

3.3 Reproduction, resting stages and aestivation 39

3.4 Getting enough oxygen 41

3.5 Insects 41

3.6 Big animals, air‐breathers and swamps 42

3.7 Dispersal among freshwaters 44

3.8 Patterns in freshwater diversity 46

3.9 Fish faunas 49

3.10 The fish of Lake Victoria 51

3.11 Overall diversity in freshwaters 53

3.12 Environmental DNA 56

3.13 Further reading 57

4 Water: a remarkable unremarkable substance 58

4.1 Introduction 58

4.2 The molecular properties of water and their physical consequences 59

4.3 Melting and evaporation 60

4.4 How much water is there and where is it? 61

4.5 Patterns in hydrology 62

4.6 Bodies of water and their temperatures 66

4.7 An overview of mixing patterns 70

4.8 Viscosity of water and fluid dynamics 71

4.9 Diffusion 73

4.10 Further reading 73

5 Water as a habitat: some background water chemistry 74

5.1 Introduction 74

5.2 Polar and covalent compounds 74

5.3 The atmosphere 75

5.4 Carbon dioxide 76

5.5 Major ions 77

5.6 The big picture 81

5.7 Further reading 83

6 Key nutrients, trace elements and organic matter 84

6.1 Introduction 84

6.2 Concepts of limiting substances 85

6.3 Experiments on nutrient limitation 86

6.4 Nutrient supply and need 91

6.5 Phosphorus 91

6.6 Nitrogen 92

6.7 Pristine concentrations 93

6.8 Trace elements and silicon 96

6.9 Organic substances 98

6.10 Substance budgets and movements 101

6.11 Sediment-water relationships 104

6.12 Further reading 106

7 Light thrown upon the waters 108

7.1 Light 108

7.2 Effects of the atmosphere 109

7.3 From above to under the water 110

7.4 Remote sensing 114

7.5 Further reading 116

8 Headwater streams and rivers 118

8.1 Introduction 118

8.2 General models of stream ecosystems 118

8.3 The basics of stream flow 121

8.4 Flow and discharge 122

8.5 Laminar and turbulent flow 122

8.6 Particles carried 124

8.7 The response of stream organisms to shear stress 125

8.8 Community composition in streams 126

8.9 Algal and plant communities 127

8.10 Macroinvertebrates 128

8.11 Streams in different climates: the polar and alpine zones 132

8.12 Invertebrates of kryal streams 134

8.13 Food webs in cold streams 135

8.14 Stream systems in the cold‐temperate zone 137

8.15 Allochthonous sources of energy 139

8.16 Stream orders 140

8.17 The river continuum concept 141

8.18 Indirectly, wolves are stream animals too 142

8.19 Scarcity of nutrients 143

8.20 Warm‐temperate streams 144

8.21 Desert streams 147

8.22 Tropical streams 148

8.23 Further reading 152

9 Uses, misuses and restoration of headwater streams and rivers 154

9.1 Traditional use of headwater river systems 154

9.2 Deforestation 156

9.3 Acidification 157

9.4 Eutrophication 162

9.5 Commercial afforestation 163

9.6 Settlement 164

9.7 Engineering impacts 166

9.8 Alterations of the fish community and introduced species 168

9.9 Sewage and toxic pollution and their treatment 170

9.10 Diffuse pollution 174

9.11 River monitoring 176

9.12 The Water Framework Directive 177

9.13 Implementation of the Directive 178

9.14 Restoration and rehabilitation ecology 180

9.15 Further reading 183

10 Rich systems: floodplain rivers 185

10.1 Introduction 185

10.2 From an erosive river to a depositional one 187

10.3 Submerged plants 188

10.4 Growth of submerged plants 190

10.5 Methods of measuring the primary productivity of submerged plants 193

10.6 Enclosure methods 194

10.7 Other methods 195

10.8 Submerged plants and the river ecosystem 196

10.9 Farther downstream: swamps and floodplains 196

10.10 Productivity of swamps and floodplain marshes 198

10.11 Swamp soils and the fate of the high primary production 199

10.12 Oxygen supply and soil chemistry in swamps 200

10.13 Emergent plants and flooded soils 202

10.14 Swamp and marsh animals 204

10.15 Whitefish and blackfish 205

10.16 Latitudinal differences in floodplains 206

10.17 Polar floodplains 207

10.18 Cold‐temperate floodplains 208

10.19 Warm‐temperate floodplains 209

10.20 Tropical floodplains 211

10.21 The Sudd 212

10.22 Further reading 215

11 Floodplains and human affairs 216

11.1 Introduction 216

11.2 Floodplain services 218

11.3 Floodplain fisheries 220

11.4 Floodplain swamps and human diseases 222

11.5 Case studies: the Pongola River 226

11.6 River and floodplain management and rehabilitation 231

11.7 Mitigation: plant bed management in rivers 231

11.8 Enhancement 234

11.9 Rehabilitation 236

11.10 Inter‐basin transfers and water needs 238

11.11 Further reading 240

12 Lakes and other standing waters 242

12.1 Introduction 242

12.2 The origins of lake basins 244

12.3 Lake structure 248

12.4 The importance of the catchment area 254

12.5 Lakes as autotrophic or heterotrophic systems 255

12.6 The continuum of lakes 258

12.7 Lake history 263

12.8 Organic remains 267

12.9 General problems of interpretation of evidence from sediment cores 269

12.10 Two ancient lakes 270

12.11 Younger lakes 271

12.12 Filling in 276

12.13 Summing‐up 278

12.14 Further reading 278

13 The communities of shallow standing waters: mires,shallow lakes and the littoral zone 280

13.1 Introduction 280

13.2 What determines the nature of mires and littoral zones? 280

13.3 Temperature 281

13.4 Nutrients 282

13.5 Littoral communities in lakes 286

13.6 The structure of littoral communities 288

13.7 Periphyton 291

13.8 Heterotrophs among the plants 292

13.9 Neuston 295

13.10 Linkages, risks and insurances among the littoral communities 296

13.11 Latitude and littorals 297

13.12 The role of the nekton 299

13.13 Further reading 301

14 Plankton communities of the pelagic zone 304

14.1 Kitchens and toilets 304

14.2 Phytoplankton and sinking 306

14.3 Photosynthesis and growth of phytoplankton 309

14.4 Net production and growth 310

14.5 Nutrient uptake and growth rates of phytoplankton 311

14.6 Distribution of freshwater phytoplankton 312

14.7 Washout 314

14.8 Cyanobacterial blooms 314

14.9 Heterotrophs in the plankton: viruses and bacteria 319

14.10 The microbial pathway 320

14.11 Zooplankton 321

14.12 Grazing 324

14.13 Feeding and grazing rates of zooplankton 328

14.14 Competition and predation among grazers 328

14.15 Predation on zooplankters by invertebrates 330

14.16 Fishes in the open‐water community 333

14.17 Predation on the zooplankton and fish production 335

14.18 Avoidance of vertebrate predation by the zooplankton 338

14.19 Piscivores and piscivory 340

14.20 Functioning of the open‐water community 340

14.21 Polar lakes 342

14.22 Cold‐temperate lakes 343

14.23 Warm‐temperate lakes 346

14.24 Very warm lakes in the tropics 347

14.25 Further reading 349

15 The profundal zone and carbon storage 352

15.1 The end of the line 352

15.2 The importance of oxygen 353

15.3 Profundal communities 356

15.4 Biology of selected benthic invertebrates 357

15.5 What the sediment‐living detritivores really eat 359

15.6 Influence of the open‐water community on the profundal benthos 361

15.7 Sediment storage and the global carbon cycle 365

15.8 Further reading 370

16 Fisheries in standing waters 371

16.1 Some general principles 371

16.2 Some basic fish biology 372

16.3 Eggs 372

16.4 Feeding 374

16.5 Breeding 375

16.6 Choice of fish for a fishery 379

16.7 Measurement of fish production 379

16.8 Growth measurement 381

16.9 Fish production and commercial fisheries in lakes 383

16.10 Changes in fisheries: a case study 387

16.11 The East African Great Lakes 390

16.12 Fish culture 395

16.13 Stillwater angling 400

16.14 Amenity culture and the aquarium trade 403

16.15 Further reading 405

17 The uses, abuses and restoration of standing waters 406

17.1 Introduction 406

17.2 Services provided by standing waters 408

17.3 Domestic water supply, eutrophication and reservoirs 409

17.4 Eutrophication – nutrient pollution 410

17.5 Dams and reservoirs 415

17.6 Fisheries in new lakes 418

17.7 Effects downstream of the new lake 419

17.8 New tropical lakes and human populations 419

17.9 Man‐made tropical lakes, the balance of pros and cons 419

17.10 Amenity and conservation 421

17.11 The alternative states model 424

17.12 Ponds 426

17.13 Restoration approaches for standing waters: symptom treatment 426

17.14 Treatment of proximate causes: nutrient control 428

17.15 Present supplies of phosphorus, their relative contributions and how they are related to the algal crop 430

17.16 Methods available for reducing total phosphorus loads 430

17.17 In‐lake methods 434

17.18 Complications for phosphorus control – sediment sources 434

17.19 Nitrogen reduction 435

17.20 Habitat creation 436

17.21 Further reading 438

18 Climate change and the future of freshwaters 440

18.1 Introduction 440

18.2 Climate change 442

18.3 Existing effects of freshwaters 444

18.4 Future effects 449

18.5 Future effects on freshwaters 453

18.6 Switches and feedbacks 457

18.7 Wicked problems 464

18.8 Mitigation of global warming 468

18.9 The remedy of ultimate causes 468

18.10 Rewilding the world 474

18.11 Reforming governments 477

18.12 Further reading 479

References 483

Index 515

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