Brief Description In much of the Mediterranean area, where the climate is hot and dry, freshwater is in short supply and fish and humans are in competition for this scarce resource. Improved standards of living in most countries and a rise in human population have combined to make increasing demands on freshwater resources and have resulted in conflicting interests in available water.Because of such demands, fish in southern Europe where […]
Brief Description Emergent aquatic plants dominate the landscape of many Mediterranean wetlands: the cast reed beds of common reed in deltas and around the edges of freshwater lakes; huge stretches of glasswort on the limits of salt and brackish marshes. The purpose of this booklet is to provide an understanding of the ecological functioning of systems dominated by emergent aquatic plants.To draw together information necessary for decisions on the management […]
Brief Description The purpose of this booklet is to explore the growing demand for water in the Mediterranean and the increasing pressures on the natural hydrological environment.It looks for instance at how natural ecosystems preserve the hydrology of river systems, storing and recycling freshwater.It asks how far our expectations for both ample water supply and environmental protection can be reconciled; how far maximizing use of scarce water can be consistent […]
Brief Description Worldwide wetland ecosystems have been greatly affected by human activities. The Mediterranean region is no exception.Even if all the remaining wetlands were now effectively protected it is unlikely that the decline of colonial waterbirds in these habitats would come to an automatic halt, or even reverse itself.Active management is needed for stabilizing these bird colonies, let alone for restoring their numbers.This booklet deals with the practical issues of […]
Brief Description This booklet analyses the current status of aquaculture in the Mediterranean region. It presents the economic issues surrounding its development and examines the impacts of this relatively new activity on the ecologically sensitive coastal wetlands of the region. Aquaculture today is a rapidly diversifying sector both in terms of technology and with respect to the species cultivated. Furthermore although aquaculture produces fish with high added value catering for […]
Brief Description This booklet has a twin focus, on the one hand exploring the role of wetlands in nature’s cycle and on the other considering the importance of wetlands for man.A high number of examples provided to illustrate the key points in the book makes it overall a very accessible reading. One key point that emerges is that wetlands are part of wider hydrological systems and so the mechanisms of […]