A Rehabilitated Estuarine Ecosystem, 1998 The environment and ecology of the Thames Estuary

The well documented history of pollution and recovery in the Thames Estuary has made the system one of the world's most famous case studies. However, the story is incomplete in terms of the status of the rehabilitated ecosystem resulting from the remedial management policies. What ecosystem might we expect to recover from a once lifeless estuary? have the extensive efforts made by policy makers, environmental managers and scientists resulted in a diverse, complex estuary that may be a model for other systems? This book draws together many detailed aspects of the recovering Thames Estuary ecosystem from environmental management and scientific sources. The result is probably the most comprehensive account of the management and ecology of a single estuarine system yet produced. It includes important and extensive long term studies of the fish communities, water quality and management policy, spatial accounts along the full length of the estuary for benthic invertebrates and algae, significant case studies on zooplankton, saltmarshes and parasitology, as well as an overview looking forward to the next millennium. Altogether, this study of the long term ecological consequences of management policy provides a benchmark for comparison with other estuarine ecosystems, both `natural' and rehabilitated, and forms a unique and valuable reference for environmental managers, estuarine scientists and ecologists.

1. Introduction; J. Green. 2. The Thames estuary - a history of the impact of man on the environment and a description of the current approach to environmental management; D. Tinsley. 3. Physical and chemical characteristics; J. Kinniburgh. 4. The algae of the Thames estuary: a reappraisal; I. Tittley, D. John. 5. The zooplankton communities of the Thames estuary; C. Gordon, A. Bark, R. Bailey. 6. The Benthic Macroinvertebrate communities of the Thames estuary; M. Attrill. 7. Temporal changes in the movements and abundance of Thames estuary fish populations; M. Thomas. 8. Host-parasite interactions: case studies of parasitic infections in migratory fish; M. Munro, P. Whitfield, S. Lee. 9. The Thames estuary saltmarsh plant and sea-grass communities; S. Waite. 10. Estuaries: towards the next century; A. McIntyre. Appendix A: Summary of data for selected sites along the Thames estuary. Appendix B: Thames estuary species list.

This book draws together many detailed aspects of the recovering Thames Estuary ecosystem from environmental management and scientific sources. It includes important and extensive long term studies of the fish communities, water quality and management policy, spatial accounts along the full length of the estuary for benthic invertebrates and algae, significant case studies on zooplankton, saltmarshes and parasitology, as well as an overview looking forward to the next millenium. It provides data from long term studies on the ecological consequences of management policy in the famous case of pollution and recovery in the Thames.