This is a graduate-level textbook and reference book that evaluates in detail all the interrelated aspects of freshwater ecosystems. It uses data drawn from research in the physical, chemical, biological, and socioeconomic sciences and focuses on wetlands and the Dal Lake ecosystem in the Kashmir to as representative of areas currently threatened by eutrophication and over-exploitation as a result of increasing human pressures. The book contains ten major chapters dealing with the geology and climate of the Kashmir valley, abiotic and biotic components of wetland ecosystems, the physico-chemical nature of lake systems, primary and secondary producers, ecosystem processes, macrophytes, human use of freshwater ecosystems, and freshwater ecosystem threats, management, and conservation. Includes bibliographic references and index.