• Biodiversity in Wetlands: Assessment, Function and Conservation [top]
  Edited by Brij Gopal, Wolfgang J. Junk and J. A. Davis
  First published in 2000 in the Netherlands in paperback by Backhuys Publishers, 353pp, ISBN 9789057820595

About this book: Taken from the Preface: For more than a century, the ecologists have been engaged in the study of the patterns of diversity at different levels of organization (populations, communities and ecosystems) and their relationships with the biotic and abiotic environment. Accelerated rates of habitat destruction and consequent loss of species have caused global concern for the biological diversity, and it is reflected in the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted in 1992. International efforts are being made to inventorise, assess and monitor biodiversity, to understand its ecological functions, and to conserve it. Biodiversity issues have transcended beyond biology and ecology into the domains of technology, sociology, economics, anthropology, law and politics. Most studies and discussions are focused on terrestrial ecosystems, particularly the tropical rainforests. The biodiversity of inland water systems has just started receiving some attention. Though the wetlands are among the most fragile and threatened ecosystems, and are also considered to be highly productive and rich in biodiversity, there is very little information even on their total biological diversity, much less on the factors regulating it or on its functions.
One of the symposia at the INTECOL's V International Wetlands Conference, held in Perth, Australia (22-28 Sept 96), was devoted to the biodiversity of wetlands and it was at this point that the need for elaborating the topic into a separate volume was realised, with contributions invited which would cover the different kinds and different geographic regions and arranging this and the publication of the articles was ongoing till this first volume was published in 2000. Fourteen contributions in this volume deal with several kinds of wetlands - riverine floodplains, mangroves, karst wetlands, bogs and fens, and seasonal wetlands of arid regions - and most of the groups of plants and animals, as well as microbes. The authors of these contributions examine species, habitat and functional diversity, and discuss a wide range of issues - from factors governing biodiversity to restoration and conservation.

As a note to those wondering what the 2nd volume was forecast to contain - it was due to extend the geographic coverage and to look at more kinds of wetlands, organisms and issues. The attempt would be made to provide a synthesis of the knowledge acquired in the two volumes at the end of volume two

Contents:
Preface
1. Biodiversity in wetlands: an introduction by Brij Gopal and W. J. Junk
2. The important of stream-wetland-systems for biodiversity: a tropical perspective by Karl Matthias Wantzen and Wolfgang Johnanes Junk
3. Riverine wetlands and biodiversity conservation in tropical Asia by David Dudgeon
4. Fish biodiversity in floodplains and their associated rivers by R. L. Welcomme
5. Biodiversity in the high Parana River floodplain by A. A. Agostinho, S. M. Thomaz, C. V. Minte-Vera and K.O. Winemiller
6. Mechanisms for development and maintenance of biodiversity in neotropical floodplains by Wolfgang J. Junk
7. Biodiversity of a Danubian floodplain: structural, functional and compositional aspects by Klement Tockner, Christian Baumgartner, Fritz Schiemer and J. V. Ward
8. Determinants of avian diversity in neotropical mangrove forests by Gaetan Lefebvre and Brigitte Poulin
9. Biodiversity in wetlands of dry regions (drylands) by L. Brendonck and W. D. Williams
10. Floristic diversity in the Okavango Delta, Botswana as an endogenous product of biological activity by W. N. Ellery; T. S. McCarthy and J. M. Dangerfield
11. Karst wetlands biodiversity and continuity through major climatic change: an example from arid tropical Western Australia by W. F. Humphreys
12. Biodiversity of Estonian Wetlands by Viktor Masing, Jaanus Paal and Andres Kuresoo
13. Bacterial biodiversity in wetlands by Paul I. Boon
14. Restoration of biodiversity to coastal and inland wetlands by Joy B. Zedler
15. International mechanisms for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands by Devin M. Bartley
Index