Watersheds: a practical handbook to healthy water

Ch. 1. What is a watershed?: A typical watershed

Magnification of environmental problems

North American bioregions and their watersheds

Eastern deciduous and mixed forest bioregion

Boreal forest and Tundra bioregion

Grassland bioregion

West Coast Rainforest bioregion

Desert bioregion

Ch. 2. How watersheds work : water and nutrient cycles: The water cycle

Aquifers and groundwater

The carbon cycle

The nitrogen cycle

The sulfur cycle

The phosphorus cycle

Ch. 3. From headwaters to outflows : parts of a watershed: Wetlands

Marshes

Bogs

Fens

Swamps

The flowing waters of streams and rivers

The still waters of ponds and lakes

Lake ecology

Estuaries: Where rivers meet the sea

Rocky estuaries

Saltwater marshes

Eel grass beds

Ch. 4. Natural changes within watersheds: Beaver ponds and meadows

Natural succession of plant communities

Floods

Eutrophication of ponds and small lakes

Ch. 5. Air pollution: Ozone

Good ozone: The ozone layer

Bad ozone: Problems at ground level

The Greenhouse effect

Acid rain

Acid shock in meltwater pools

Dead lakes

Forest decline

Effects of soils and winds

How can I help?

Ch. 6. Water pollution: Bioconcentration and the effects of contaminants

Biomagnification

Industrial sources of water pollution

Oil spillage industry

Thermal pollution

Radioactive wastes

Urban sources of water pollution

The moral of summer thunderstorms

Sewage treatment and water filtration

Alternative sewage treatment nitrogen and phosphorus pollution: Too much of a good thing?

Agricultural and rural sources of water pollution

How can I help?:Water pollution

How can I help?: Environmentally friendly cleaners

Ch. 7. The impact of exotic species : hidden invaders: Deceptive beauty: Purple loosestrife

Sea lampreys in the Great Lakes

Norway maples and the native forest

How can I help?: Exotic species

Ch. 8. Habitat loss and degradation: Meddling with the flow of water: Dams and other intrusions

Dams

Forestry issues

Logging practices

Additional forestry problems

Alternative logging practices

How can I help?: Saving the forests

Agricultural and rural issues

Prairie sloughs

Farming the bottom lands

How can I help?: Habitat on the working farm

Urban and suburban issues

Urban rivers

Problems with fragmented habitats: Landscape ecology

The edge effect

Wildlife corridors

Ch. 9. Ecological restoration : righting environmental wrongs: Restoring habitats close to Home

The multiple benefits of native plants

How can I help?: Restoring backyards

How can I help?: Stream and river restoration

Assessing Your local stream: How clean is the water?

Biological indicators of water Quality

Bioindicator species for fast-flowing streams

Appendices: The five kingdoms of living things

Food chains, food webs, and ecological pyramids

Common aquatic invertebrates of flowing and still waters

Glossary

Selected bibliography.