Estuarine Ecohydrology

Estuarine Ecohydrology, Second Edition, provides an ecohydrology viewpoint of an estuary as an ecosystem by focusing on its principal components, the river, the estuarine waters, the sediment, the nutrients, the wetlands, the oceanic influence, and the aquatic food web, as well as models of the health of an estuary ecosystem.

Estuaries, the intersection of freshwater and coastal ecosystems, exhibit complex physical and biological processes which must be understood in order to sustain and restore them when necessary.

This book demonstrates how, based on an understanding of the processes controlling estuarine ecosystem health, one can quantify its ability to cope with human stresses. The theories, models, and real-world solutions presented serve as a toolkit for designing a management plan for the ecologically sustainable development of estuaries.

• Provides a sound knowledge of the physical functioning of an estuary, a critical component of understanding its ecological functioning
• Ideal reference for those interested in marine biology, oceanography, coastal management, and sustainable development
• Describes the essentials behind conceptual and numerical models of the health of an estuary ecosystem and how to use these models to quantify both human impacts and the value of remediation and management measures
• Chapters are written in an accessible way that encourages collaboration between aquatic, marine, and wetland biologists, ecologists, oceanographers, geologists, geomorphologists, chemists, and ecosystem modelers
• Covers the physical, chemical, and biological elements of estuary environments, indicating that the essence of an estuary’s functioning lies in its connectivity with the adjacent catchment and the marine/coastal system

Environmental, managers, water resource managers, marine scientists, aquatic ecologists, civil engineers

• Dedication
• About the Authors
• Preface to the 2nd Edition
• 1: Introduction
  • Publisher Summary
  • 1.1 What is an estuary?
  • 1.2 Humanity and estuaries
  • 1.3 Ecohydrology as the solution
  • 1.4 Ecohydrological science: The structure of this book
• 2: Estuarine water circulation
  • Publisher Summary
  • 2.1 The tides at sea
  • 2.2 The residence time of water
  • 2.3 The age of water
  • 2.4 Exposure time versus residence time
  • 2.5 Stratification
  • 2.6 Lateral stratification, trapping, and streakiness
  • 2.7 The importance of the bathymetry on currents
  • 2.8 The importance of coastal currents and waves for estuarine flushing
  • 2.9 The importance of storms on the estuarine circulation
  • 2.10 The special case of lagoons
  • 2.11 The influence of the Earth rotation
  • 2.12 Ship waves
• 3: Estuarine sediment dynamics
  • Publisher Summary
  • 3.1 Geomorphological time scales
  • 3.2 Sediment properties and dynamics
  • 3.3 Stability of the banks
  • 3.4 Tidal pumping
  • 3.5 Some engineering implications
  • 3.6 Biological implications of the export of estuarine mud to coastal waters
  • 3.7 Net sediment budgets
  • 3.8 The size of the mouth
  • 3.9 Mud and human health
• 4: Tidal wetlands
  • Publisher Summary
  • 4.1 Description
  • 4.2 Hydrodynamics
  • 4.3 Wave attenuation by wetland vegetation
  • 4.4 Ecological processes within a tidal wetland
  • 4.5 Enhancement of estuarine fisheries
  • 4.6 Groundwater flow
  • 4.7 Wetlands as bioengineers
• 5: Estuarine ecological structure and functioning
  • Publisher Summary
  • 5.1 Simple food webs
  • 5.2 The key role of detritus
  • 5.3 The role of groundwater
  • 5.4 Estuarine connectivity
  • 5.5 Stressed ecosystems
  • 5.6 Estuarine water quality barriers
  • 5.7 The role of estuaries for fishes and their recruitment to estuaries
  • 5.8 The role of birds in estuarine ecohydrology
  • 5.9 The ecology of tideless estuaries, lagoons and ICOLLS
• 6: Ecohydrology models
  • Publisher Summary
  • 6.1 Introduction: Finding a balance between simplicity, complexity and realism
  • 6.2 Engineering models
  • 6.3 Ecosystem models
• 7: Ecohydrology solutions
  • Publisher Summary
  • 7.1 Ecohydrology as a response to natural and anthropogenic problems
  • 7.2 Freshwater supply to estuaries: Environmental flows, the essence of ecohydrology
  • 7.3 Estuarine and coastal restoration
  • 7.4 Managing human health threats
  • 7.5 Habitat creation/restoration
  • 7.6 Protection against natural hazards
  • 7.7 Biodiversity offsetting: Ecohydrology in practice
  • 7.8 Main lessons in ecohydrology and ecosystem engineering
  • 7.9 What future for estuaries and coastal waters?
• References
• Index