Freshwater Biodiversity

David Dudgeon is Chair Professor in Ecology and Biodiversity at the University of Hong Kong. He has spent almost forty years researching and writing about the streams and rivers of monsoonal East Asia, and the animals that live in and around them. He is well known and well respected internationally in the field of freshwater ecology, on which he has published extensively. He received the Biwako Prize in Ecology in 2000, and was Editor-in-Chief of Freshwater Biology between 2015 and 2017.

• Preface; 1. The freshwater commons; 2. Global endangerment of freshwater biodiversity; 3. Overexploitation; 4. Alien species and their effects; 5. River regulation: impacts and mitigation; 6. Vanishing lakes and threats to lacustrine biodiversity; 7. How will climate change affect freshwater biodiversity?; 8. Ecosystem services and incentivizing conservation of freshwater biodiversity; 9. Conservation of freshwater biodiversity: opportunities and initiatives; Index.

'Dudgeon (Univ. of Hong Kong) draws on his 40 years of experience as a freshwater ecologist to provide a comprehensive overview of scientific research on these impacts. He adopts a global approach in every chapter, offering detailed examples from worldwide sites, such as the Mekong Basin, Lake Victoria, and the Great Lakes. After describing the biodiversity of freshwaters and their many uses by people, Dudgeon focuses on the three major causes of declining biodiversity: overexploitation (from fishing and hunting), introduced species, and modification of rivers and lakes (through dams and water removal). Many of the best-documented cases of biodiversity decline are found among fish, but other animals are not neglected. Climate change and its future effects are addressed as well. The book closes with a discussion of ways in which people may work to prevent and undo the harm to freshwater ecosystems and the many species that depend on them.' M. P. Gustafson, Choice