River Plants of Western Europe

Originally published in 1987, this book describes and discusses the vegetation of rivers and other watercourses in Europe with an emphasis upon distributional, community and historical ecology. It was firmly based upon many years of field investigations carried out by the author in various countries in the European Economic Community. The main purpose of the text was to increase the understanding of river vegetation in relation to the varying physical characteristics of the watercourses. The rivers of the EEC are considered in detail, with an emphasis upon the influences of landscape, geology, climate, settlement patterns, water use and management and pollution. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in river botany.Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. Introduction; 2. River development; 3. River classification; 4. Climate; 5. River discharges; 6. Species distribution in relation to physical factors; 7. Nutrient-status banding: colour banding; 8. Plant responses to rock type and nutrient regime; 9. Geographic distribution; 10. Factors causing changes in rivers with particular reference to the twentieth century; 11. Changes in vegetation during a decade; 12. Downstream changes; 13. Plant communities in Britain; 14. Plant communities in Germany; 15. Plant communities in Denmark; 16. Plant communities in Belgium; 17. Plant communities in Luxembourg; 18. Plant communities in Ireland; 19. Plant communities in The Netherlands; 20. Plant communities in (mainland) France; 21. Plant communities in (mainland) Italy; 22. Plant communities in Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica; 23. Plant communities in south Norway; 24. Community studies; 25. Community interpretation; 26. Management and related interference I; 27. Management and related interference II; 28. Pollution patterns; 29. Aspects of pollution; 30. Indices for damage and pollution; Appendixes; References; Index.