It is vital that we apply the best possible science to protect and restore wetlands around the world. I have therefore written a short guide to introduce some of the best – and often simplest – tools for protecting and restoring wetlands. This book introduces just 12 important factors that control wetlands, and explains how managers can use these factors to protect existing wetlands, and to create new biologically valuable wetlands.
This book is written primarily for non-specialists such as landscape architects, environmental planners, park managers, watershed managers, and other busy people caring for wetlands in particular and landscapes overall. It is also ideal for naturalists and conservationists who need a concise introduction to wetlands.
The book is now published online by Springer and will be available in hard cover in March 2023.
The twelve causal factors for wetland management are
- Duration of flooding
- Flood pulses
- Fertility
- Natural disturbance
- Competition
- Herbivory
- Burial
- Salinity
- Roads
- Coarse woody debris
- Invasive species
- Human population size
This book also illustrates the causal factor approach to managing ecosystems. For an video lecture by the author about the causal factor approach to wetland management go here, or here.
My late wife, Cathy Keddy, created original graphs for this book, including two shown above. She also helped find the best possible illustrations. I am deeply grateful to her for the effort she put into this project during the last year of her life. This book is one of her many legacies in conservation and ecology.
I also thank my friend and colleague Dr. Dan Campbell for correcting the proofs for this book while I was in mourning.
Errata:
Figure 2.1: top arrow, replace “boards” with “roads”
Section 5.4: The Big Meadow bog was drained by two (not one) drainage ditches. There were several (not one) mink farms. For further reading on Mountain Avens, you may also consult the report by Cathy Keddy.:1986. COSEWIC status report on the Eastern Mountain Avens Geum peckii in Canada. Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. 19 pp.
All references in this book to Field (1971) (Chapters 6 and 8) should be changed to Field (1970). Field (1971) is about elephant ecology, not hippopotamus ecology(!). Replace with Field CR (1970) A study of the feeding habits of the hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius Linn.) in the Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda, with some management implications. Zoological Africa 5:71-86
Paul Keddy, Ph.D. 