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5 - Inland water ecosystems

from Part I - Understanding ‘water’

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2011

By
Jackie King  and
Cate Brown
Edited by
R. Quentin Grafton  and
Karen Hussey
Jackie King
Affiliation:
University of Cape Town
Cate Brown
Affiliation:
Southern Waters Ecological Research and Consulting
R. Quentin Grafton
Affiliation:
Australian National University, Canberra
Karen Hussey
Affiliation:
Australian National University, Canberra
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Summary

Introduction

Oceans dominate the water landscape of Earth, but scattered across the terrestrial landscape are less obvious water ecosystems of many kinds that are nevertheless vital to all of humanity. Of the 1.4 billion cubic kilometres of water on Earth, 97% is seawater with only limited potential for terrestrial use (Pearce, 2006). Two-thirds of the remainder is locked in ice caps and glaciers, and one-third is in liquid form – most stored deep below the earth's surface in aquifers. The minute remaining liquid fraction, not much more than 200 000 cubic kilometres, is stored in lakes (90 000 cubic kilometres), soils and permafrost (90 000), the atmosphere (13 000), a range of wetland types (11 000), rivers (2000), and living organisms (1000) (Pearce, 2006). Occupying less than 1% of the Earth's surface (Reaka-Kudla, 1997; Dudgeon et al., 2006), rivers, lakes, floodplains, swamps, lagoons, pans, bogs, seeps, estuaries and other kinds of surface inland waters enrich our lives with their variety and beauty, but also, along with groundwater aquifers, provide the freshwater we need for our lives, homes and industries.

Of all aquatic ecosystems, rivers are the most prominent providers of water because of the continual flowing supply and they are, in all but the most arid regions of the planet, among the most pervasive features of the physical landscape. They are giant conveyor belts (Kondolf, 1997), moving up to 40 000 cubic kilometres of water from land to sea every year and carrying associated sediments and chemical loads.

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Water Resources Planning and Management , pp. 90 - 116
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

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  • Inland water ecosystems
  • Edited by R. Quentin Grafton, Australian National University, Canberra, Karen Hussey, Australian National University, Canberra
  • Book: Water Resources Planning and Management
  • Online publication: 05 August 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511974304.008
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  • Inland water ecosystems
  • Edited by R. Quentin Grafton, Australian National University, Canberra, Karen Hussey, Australian National University, Canberra
  • Book: Water Resources Planning and Management
  • Online publication: 05 August 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511974304.008
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  • Inland water ecosystems
  • Edited by R. Quentin Grafton, Australian National University, Canberra, Karen Hussey, Australian National University, Canberra
  • Book: Water Resources Planning and Management
  • Online publication: 05 August 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511974304.008
Available formats
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