"This volume explains the basic concepts of the ecology of streams and rivers, visualizing the system as a continuum in which the upper headwaters are intimately linked with the lower river, including and part of the estuary. It discusses how rainfall in the upper watershed combines with geography and geology to shape the physical river ecosystem, the currents, erosional forces and interactions with the floodplain. Light, or solar irradiance is discussed in terms of how it influences river plant growth and in terms is influenced by suspended sediments and water color. Nutrients and their sources, especially nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and silica (Si) influence plant and bacterial life, and overabundances of N and P cause major problems to the river system. The growth and overgrowth of river plant life (phytoplankton, periphyton, macroalgae and macrophytes) is described, and relations with nutrients, grazers, and as habitat for invertebrate and vertebrate organisms"--