As in the terrestrial environment, most data collection from freshwater habitats to date falls into the survey, surveillance or research categories. The critical difference between these exercises and a monitoring project is that a monitoring project will clearly identify when we need to make a management response. A Model for Conservation Management and Monitoring Monitoring (as defined by Hellawell) is essentially a tool of practical conservation management, and Fig. 1.1 shows a simple, but effective, model for nature conser- tion management and monitoring. The need for clear decision-making is implicit in this model. First we must decide what would represent a favourable state for the key habitat or species, and then we must decide when to intervene if the state is (or becomes) unfavourable. A third, often overlooked, but equally important, decision concerns when we would consider the habitat or species to have recovered; this is unlikely to be the same point that we became concerned about it. This decision not only has resource imp- cations, it can also have major implications for other habitats and species (prey species are an obvious example). All of these decisions are essential to the devel- ment of an efficient and effective monitoring project.

Setting the scene.- Conservation Monitoring in Freshwater Habitats: An Introduction.- Options for Planning Management.- The Water Framework Directive and the Habitats and Birds Directives.- Biological Indicators for Freshwater Habitats.- Freshwater Mammals as Indicators of Habitat Condition.- Waterbirds as Bioindicators of Environmental Conditions.- Monitoring Fish Populations in River SACs.- Assessment of Aquatic Invertebrates.- Riverine Plants as Biological Indicators.- Phytoplankton (Toxic Algae) as Biological Indicators.- Monitoring Biological Invasions in Freshwater Habitats.- Rivers: Threats and Monitoring Issues.- Threats to River Habitats and Associated Plants and Animals.- The Development and Application of Mean Trophic Rank (MTR).- Monitoring the Ranunculion Habitat on the River Itchen: Practical Application and Constraints.- Observer Variation in River Macrophyte Surveys.- The Implications of Observer Variation for Existing Macrophyte Recording Methods.- Unitisation of Protected Rivers.- River Case Studies.- Monitoring the Ranunculion Habitat of the Western Cleddau: A Case Study.- Monitoring of Cryphaea lamyana on the Afon Teifi SSSI/SAC: A Case Study.- Monitoring Sea Lamprey Petromyzon marinus Ammocoetes in SAC Rivers: A Case Study on the River Wye.- Monitoring Juvenile Atlantic Salmon and Sea Trout in the River Sävarån, Northern Sweden.- Shad Monitoring in the Afon Tywi SAC: A Case Study.- Monitoring the Effects of Acidification and Liming on Water Quality in a Boreal Stream: The River Stridbäcken in Northern Sweden.- Lake and wetland case studies.- A Baseline for Monitoring the Freshwater Natura 2000 Vegetation of the Teifi Pools (Afon Teifi SAC), Wales.- Aquatic Plant Monitoring in the Broads.- Monitoring Stoneworts Chara spp. at Bosherston Lakes.-Monitoring Wetland Mammals: An Ecological Case Study.- Ringed Seals in the Gulf of Bothnia.- Integrated surveillance, monitoring and management at Doñana Natural Space.- An Integrated Monitoring Programme for Doñana Natural Space: The Set-Up and Implementation.- Monitoring Aquatic Ecosystems at Doñana Natural Space.- Endangered Waterbirds at Doñana Natural Space.- Monitoring Marsh Dynamics Through Remote Sensing.- New Technologies for Long-Term Biodiversity Monitoring.

As in the terrestrial environment, most data collection from freshwater habitats to date falls into the survey, surveillance or research categories. The critical difference between these exercises and a monitoring project is that a monitoring project will clearly identify when we need to make a management response. A Model for Conservation Management and Monitoring Monitoring (as defined by Hellawell) is essentially a tool of practical conservation management, and Fig. 1.1 shows a simple, but effective, model for nature conser- tion management and monitoring. The need for clear decision-making is implicit in this model. First we must decide what would represent a favourable state for the key habitat or species, and then we must decide when to intervene if the state is (or becomes) unfavourable. A third, often overlooked, but equally important, decision concerns when we would consider the habitat or species to have recovered; this is unlikely to be the same point that we became concerned about it. This decision not only has resource imp- cations, it can also have major implications for other habitats and species (prey species are an obvious example). All of these decisions are essential to the devel- ment of an efficient and effective monitoring project.