Environmental History of the Rhine-Meuse Delta

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xviii

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2. Human Occupation and Management of a Fertile Delta

   1. Introduction

      Pages 1-13

   2. Prehistory and Early History of the Delta

      Pages 17-47

   3. The Delta in the Later Middle Ages (800–1500)

      Pages 49-79

   4. Technical Achievements in River Management (1500–1800)

      Pages 81-110

   5. River Management after 1800: Complete Regulation and Canalisation

      Pages 111-139

3. The Legacy of Human Intervention

   1. Changes in the Relation Between Man and Nature

      Pages 143-168

   2. Land Use: Agriculture and Use of Wood

      Pages 169-201

   3. River Fisheries Through the Ages

      Pages 203-229

   4. Floods and Flood Protection

      Pages 231-268

   5. Human Intervention in the SW Delta

      Pages 269-298

   6. Human Intervention in Tributaries of the Large Rivers

      Pages 299-325

4. History of Industrial Pollution and its Control

   1. Changing Rhine Ecosystems: Pollution and Rehabilitation

      Pages 329-353

   2. Changing Meuse Ecosystems: Pollution and Rehabilitation

      Pages 355-378

   3. Pollution and Rehabilitation of the Aquatic Environment in the Delta

      Pages 379-404

5. Ecology of Biota in a Man-Made Landscape: Deterioration and Rehabilitation

   1. River-Fish Fauna of the Delta

      Pages 407-428

   2. Eelgrass Wax and Wane: A Case Study

      Pages 429-449

   3. Exotics and Invasions of Plants and Animals

      Pages 451-479

   4. Changes in Biodiversity: Lower Organisms, Vegetation and Flora

      Pages 481-507

   5. Changes in Biodiversity: Birds and Mammals and their Use

      Pages 509-535

This book presents the environmental history of the Delta of the lowland rivers Rhine and Meuse, an ecological story on evolving human–environmental relations coping with climate change and sea-level rise. It offers a combination of in-depth ecology and environmental history, dealing with exploitation of land and water, the use of everything nature provided, the development of fisheries and agriculture, changes in biodiversity of higher plants, fish, birds, mammals and invasive exotics. It is the first comprehensive book written in English on the integrated environmental history of the Delta, from prehistoric times up to the present day. It covers the l- acy of human intervention, the inescapable fate of reclaimed, nevertheless subs- ing and sinking polders, ‘bathtubs’ attacked by numerous floods, reclaimed in the Middle Ages and unwittingly exposed to the rising sea level and the increasing amplitude between high and low water in the rivers. The river channels, constricted and regulated between embankments, lost their flood plains, silted up, degraded and incised. Cultivation of raised bog deposits led to oxidation and compacting of peat and clay, resulting in progressive subsidence and flooding; arable land had to be changed into grassland and wetland. For millennia muscular strength and wind and water powers moulded the country into its basic form. From 1800 onwards, acceleration and scaling up by steam power and electricity, and exponential popu- tion growth, resulted in the erection of human structures ‘fixed forever’, and severe pressure on the environment.

• Ecology
• Fauna
• Flora
• biodiversity
• climate change
• development
• ecosystem
• ecosystems
• environment
• vegetation
• wetland
• water quality and water pollution
• landscape/regional and urban planning

From the reviews:

"This is a substantial … book dealing with the delta of the Rhine and Meuse Rivers. … The book claims to be the first English language book integrating the environmental history of the Delta. … the target audience to be specialists in this area of environmental science. … students of ecology would also benefit from dipping into the interesting case studies if they can find it in the library." (Owen Jones, Bulletin of the British Ecological Society, Vol. 40 (1), 2009)

• Department of Environmental Science Institute of Wetland and Water Research, Radboud University, Netherlands

  Piet H. Nienhuis

Piet Nienhuis (Groningen, 29 October 1938) passed through an international career of 40 years as researcher (biologist, ecologist) and research leader at the Netherlands Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences, and as professor and director at the Radboud University Nijmegen (the Netherlands) and the Free University Brussels (Belgium). He was chairman and advisor of services of the European Commission and several Dutch governmental departments. He published hundreds of scientific publications, mainly devoted to ecology and environmental sciences, in particular to estuarine and river ecology and management. After his retirement in 2003 he continued his writing activities, together with his editorial and advisory work.

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