This is the first book to describe the ecology of high latitude lakes, rivers and glacial environments in both the North and South polar regions. From the lake-rich floodplains of the Arctic to the deep, enigmatic waters of Lake Vostok, Antarctica, these regions contain some of the most extraordinary aquatic ecosystems on Earth. They provide a fascinating diversity of habitats for plant, animal and microbial communities, and are proving to be valuable model systems for exploring many ecological themes including landscape-lake interactions, adaptation of life to environmental extremes, and controls on the structure and functioning of aquatic ecosystems. Some of these waters also have direct global implications, including permafrost thaw lakes as sources of greenhouse gases, subglacial aquatic environments as a storehouse of ancient microbes, and Arctic rivers as major inputs of freshwater and organic carbon to the World Ocean. Given that many polar areas are experiencing greater climate warming than at lower latitudes, these ecosystems can also be viewed as sentinels of global change.
This timely volume brings together many of the world's leading researchers in polar limnology to describe these diverse aquatic environments and their ecology. It introduces each major ecosystem type, examines the similarities and differences between Arctic and Antarctic systems as well as their responses to environmental change, and describes new frontiers for future research. A glossary of terms is provided for non-specialists, and a set of colour plates introduces the ecosystems and their biota.
Polar Lakes and Rivers will be of value to students and specialist researchers alike, as well as to those with a more general interest in aquatic ecology, polar environments or global change who require an authoritative overview of this fast emerging topic.
Editors
Professor Warwick F. Vincent is an aquatic ecologist at Centre d’Études Nordiques (Center for Northern Studies), Laval University, Québec City, Canada. He is author of Microbial Ecosystems of Antarctica (Cambridge University Press) and of many scientific articles on high latitude lakes, rivers and coastal seas. His current research focuses on the impacts of Arctic climate change.
Professor Johanna Laybourn-Parry is currently Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research at the University of Tasmania and a member of the Institute of Antarctic and Southern Ocean Studies at the University. She has spent most of her career in the United Kingdom at the universities of Lancaster, Nottingham and Keele. At Nottingham she was Professor of Environmental Biology and at Keele she was the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Science. She has worked extensively in Antarctica on microbial ecology and carbon cycling in saline and freshwater lakes with the Australian and US Antarctic programmes and in Svalbard (Arctic) at the Natural Environment Research Council research station in Ny Ålesund. She has published two sole authored books, a jointly authored book and over 140 refereed articles and book chapters.
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Authors, Contributors and Editors (pdf list - 80kb)
Ian A.E. Bayly; Brent C. Christner; Kirsten S. Christoffersen; J. Brian Dempson; Peter T. Doran; Eduardo Fernández-Valiente; Jacques C. Finlay; Christine M. Foreman; Andrew G. Fountain; Pierre E. Galand; John A.E. Gibson; Michael N. Gooseff; Ian Hawes; John E. Hobbie; Dominic A. Hodgson; Clive Howard-Williams; Erik Jeppesen; Mahlon C. Kennicutt II; Scott F. Lamoureux; Isabelle Laurion; Johanna Laybourn-Parry; Michael P. Lizotte; W. Berry Lyons; Sally MacIntyre; Diane M. McKnight; Daryl L. Moorhead; Derek C.G. Muir; Marjut Nyman; David A. Pearce; Bruce J. Peterson; Reinhard Pienitz; Michael Power; John C. Priscu; Antonio Quesada; Milla Rautio; Jim D. Reist; Martin J. Riddle; John P. Smol; Robert H. Spigel; Michael Studinger; Lars J. Tranvik; Slawek Tulaczyk; Warwick F. Vincent
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Published by Oxford University Press (August 2008)
Hardback and Paperback, 320pp
ISBN: 978-0-19-921389-4
1. Introduction to the limnology of high latitude lake and river ecosystems
2. Origin and geomorphology of lakes in the polar regions
3. High latitude palaeolimnology
4. The physical limnology of high latitude
5. High latitude rivers and streams
6. Ice-based freshwater ecosystems
7. Antarctic subglacial water: origin, evolution and ecology
8. Biogeochemical processes in high latitude lakes and river
9. Phytoplankton and primary production
10. Benthic primary production in polar lakes and rivers
11. Heterotrophic microbial processes in polar lakes
12. Microbial biodiversity and biogeography
13. Zooplankton and zoobenthos in high-latitude water bodies
14. Fish in high latitude Arctic lakes
15. Food web relationships and community structures in high latitude lakes
16. Direct human impacts on high latitude lakes and rivers
17. Future directions in polar limnology
Glossary
Index