Rivers of North America

Arthur C. Benke · Colbert E. Cushing

Sep 2011 · Elsevier

About this ebook

AWARDS:2006 Outstanding Academic Title, by CHOICEThe 2005 Award for Excellence in Professional and Scholarly Publishing by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) Best Reference 2005, by the Library JournalRivers of North America is an important reference for scientists, ecologists, and students studying rivers and their ecosystems. It brings together information from several regional specialists on the major river basins of North America, presented in a large-format, full-color book. The introduction covers general aspects of geology, hydrology, ecology and human impacts on rivers. This is followed by 22 chapters on the major river basins. Each chapter begins with a full-page color photograph and includes several additional photographs within the text. These chapters feature three to five rivers of the basin/region, and cover several other rivers with one-page summaries. Rivers selected for coverage include the largest, the most natural, and the most affected by human impact. This one-of-a-kind resource is professionally illustrated with maps and color photographs of the key river basins. Readers can compare one river system to another in terms of its physiography, hydrology, ecology, biodiversity, and human impacts.

* Extensive treatment provides a single source of information for North America's major rivers* Regional specialists provide authoritative information on more than 200 rivers* Full-color photographs and topographical maps demonstrate the beauty, major features, and uniqueness of each river system* One-page summaries help readers quickly find key statistics and make comparisons among rivers

About the author

Arthur C. Benke has been Professor of Biology at the University of Alabama from 1984 to 2012 and has been Professor Emeritus since then. Before that he was a faculty member of the Georgia Institute of Technology for 13 years. He has published widely in scientific journals and books, primarily on the ecology of invertebrates in rivers, streams and wetlands, and was the senior editor for Rivers of North America (2005) and Field Guide to Rivers of North America (2010). He has served on the editorial boards of Ecology, Freshwater Biology, the Journal of the North American Benthological Society (J-NABS), and is past president of NABS. He received his B.S. in Biological Sciences from Cornell University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Zoology/Ecology from the University of Georgia. He received the Award of Excellence from the Society for Freshwater Science (SFS) in 2012 and became an inaugural Fellow of SFS in 2017.

Colbert E. Cushing was a Senior Research Scientist with the Battelle-Pacific Northwest Laboratory in Richland, Washington, until semi-retiring in 1996. He was an Adjunct Professor at Washington State University-Tri Cities, and held an Affiliate Faculty appointment at Colorado State University. He was one of the scientists instrumental in the formulation and testing of the River Continuum Concept. He has published widely in scientific journals and books, was the lead editor of River and Stream Ecosystems, and co-authored Streams: Their Ecology and Life. He served on the editorial boards for the journals Ecology and Journal of the North American Benthological Society (NABS) and was past president of NABS. He was co-editor for the first edition of Rivers of North America and Field Guide to Rivers of North America (2010) and passed away before the completion of the second edition.