Interpret What Do Plants Tell Us?

About this book

Can you tell your Sagittaria sagittifolia from your Apium nodiflorum? Who knows or cares? Well, botanists have to care, but the rest of us rarely need to. Most people like to just walk along a river bank. Do you ever notice the plants living there, and in the water? Can you determine the health of a stream or river just by looking at it, or the type of river it is by the vegetation that grows there? This little book will help, as it takes the inquisitive walker along an illustrated journey of watery habitats and their vegetation. River plants have the advantage of being stationary. They do not swim or run away from observers. They are excellent bioindicators – showing life, health and structural conditions of a river. Learn to look and see, and identify the plant communities which live in a river near you. Hopefully, you will be inspired to investigate further.

River plants are excellent bioindicators, expressing conditions of the life, health and structure of a river. They are mostly large enough to be seen from the river bank, a boat, or a bridge. There is usually no need for trawling (manually with a weighted grappling hook on a piece of string), or identifi­cation through a magnifying glass or a microscope. The common species are of suitable number to be easily learnt. Using just 70 species, the common British river habitats can all be identified and assessed. Using 120 species refines the process and identifies all European river types also. It is relatively easy to learn 100 species names, whether English or Latin.  And the walk is good for us all.

Contents

“Leisure” by William Henry Davies, 1
Introduction, 2
Now over to the plants!, 7
Why use plant and river indices (Classification)?, 8
Example 1: Medium Chalk Stream (and/or Limestone), 9
Example 2: Upland waters, 19
Example 3: Where am I?, 23
Examples of Site-Identification Species, 25
Site 1 (Fig. 23), 25
Site 2 (Fig. 24), 27
Site 3 (Fig. 25), 28
Site 4 (Fig. 26), 30
Further examples of bioindicator river-types (Fig. 27.1–10), 32
BEWARE…!, 40
Distribution of Apium nodiflorum (Fool’s water-cress) and Berula erecta (Lesser water parsnip) in rivers in Western Europe, 43
Synopsis, 54
Conclusion, 56
References, 57
List of Stand-alone Titles in the River Friend Series, 58
About the Authors, 58

Customer Reviews