Published in Encyclopedia of Inland Waters
The benthic invertebrate faunae of inland waters are an abundant, diverse, and important group of organisms found on or in submerged substrates. Much is known about these aquatic animals, especially their adaptations to the contrasting challenges of living in flowing or standing waters, their complex biotic interactions, including trophic relations...
Published in Encyclopedia of Inland Waters
Inland waters can be negatively impacted by pollution from industry, transportation, agriculture, mining, power generation, nuclear energy, weapons production, and other activities. Aquatic pollution can result of human use, misuse, and improper disposal of chemical products and by-products. Fossil fuel-related industries are potential sources of p...
Published in Encyclopedia of Inland Waters
Human diseases transmitted by freshwater organisms result in death or debilitation to millions of people annually. Malaria, lymphatic filariasis or elephantiasis, Japanese encephalitis, dengue (all transmitted through the bites of certain species of mosquitoes), onchocerciasis or river blindness (transmitted by certain black flies), and schistosomi...
Published in Encyclopedia of Inland Waters
Gravitational forces applied to water masses on sloping surfaces drive the currents in fluvial systems. These currents as a rule develop in alluvial deposits composing the river channel and hence interact with deformable channel boundaries – the river bed and banks. Erosion and deposition of alluvium within a river channel and its valley result in ...
Published in Encyclopedia of Inland Waters
The Earth's geology, its atmosphere, and the phenomenon of life have been profoundly influenced by water through geological time. One manifestation of this influence is the hydrological cycle, a continuous exchange of water among the lithosphere, the atmosphere, and the biosphere. The present-day hydrological cycle is characterized by a vigorous ci...
Published in Encyclopedia of Inland Waters
Rivers and their floodplain systems are biologically diverse and highly productive, and invertebrate communities are major contributors to both. Steep changes in physicochemical habitats, ranging from the turbulent, high velocity habitats of the main river channel to disconnected, ephemeral ponds on the floodplain, result in high habitat diversity,...
Published in Encyclopedia of Inland Waters
The invertebrate fauna of tropical stream ecosystems have been poorly studied. Although tropical ecosystems are often considered to have higher diversity compared to Temperate Zones, stream ecologists debate this trend for benthic invertebrates; a general assertion being that tropical stream ecosystems need intensive research attention before there...
Published in Encyclopedia of Inland Waters
Turbidity is a reduction in water clarity because of the presence of suspended matter absorbing or scattering downwelling light, and water is considered turbid when the presence of suspended particles becomes conspicuous. Inorganic suspended materials, suspensoids or tripton, reduce light penetration, form adsorption and desorption surfaces, and ar...
Published in Encyclopedia of Inland Waters
First described by Anton Van Leeuwenoek in the late 1600s, Rotifera is a small phylum of about 2000 species of tiny, bilaterally symmetrical, unsegmented animals traditionally described as pseudocoelomate. Because they are among the smallest of freshwater metazoans – most are between 50 and 2000 μm – rotifers are often mistaken for protists. Even s...
Published in Encyclopedia of Inland Waters
Algae in rivers are complexly related to environmental factors. A hierarchical conceptual model of ecological determinants helps predict variability in algal biomass, metabolism, and species composition among rivers and among seasons. This model is based on a nonequilibrium approach to predicting algal responses to environmental variation. Algal bi...
