Biological Assessment and Criteria: Tools for Water Resource Planning and Decision Making

Rating:
Summary: Must read this if you're engaged in freshwater conservation
Review: The book provides very thorough insights into biological foundations in relation to water resource management in North America. For those learners and researchers who are interested in biogical monitoring using index of biotic integrity(IBI), there is a lot to gain from the book. One strength of the book is that it provides many examples of IBI regional applications, which are especially useful for those who are planning to introduce IBI to regions where it has not been developed or tested so far. Many chapters are devoted to fish IBI, while invertebrate IBI is also explored a bit. Another strength of the book is that it relates biological criteria to conservation policy, thus making the nature of it interdisciplinary and practical. The book is also practical in the sense that it elaborated on field sampling methods. The book is probably best for intermediate/advanced learners and researchers of this field, and a bit unsuitable for public reading. Biological foundations and their integration into conservation policy in this book are also valuable for people who are working in freshwater conservation and water resource management outside North America. In fact, I am a graduate student from Japan studying in Canada, and I am sure that the book contains valuable information for my home country, too. I definitely rate the book 5 stars!