Lough Neagh is the largest lake in the British Isles. It covers an area of 383 km2 being 30 km along its longest axis. From pre-historic times the lake and its rivers influenced the settlements of man in the role of a fishery and communication link with the interior of Ireland. Ireland's first canal, completed in 1787, linked the small but significant coal deposits of Tyrone to Dublin by way of the lough and later the Lagen Canal became an important commercial route to the new city of Belfast.
Today, only sand barge transport persists but the lough supports Europe's largest eel fishery and provides commercial salmon, trout and perch catches, besides acting as an important centre for recreational pursuits. Increasingly it has become the major water resource for Northern Ireland supplying much of the demand for the heavily populated Belfast area.
Biologically the lough is rich, sustaining enormous invertebrate populations of, for example, chironomids and gammarids alongside the comparatively exotic glacial relict, Mysis relicta. Its bird life makes the lough an area of very special conservation interest as a Ramsar site.
The book describes the basic ecology of the lough with particular emphasis on both the interaction of the physical, chemical and biological components and the role of ecology in resource management. Extensive recent researches are set in geological, geographical and historical context and together with palaeolimnological studies of the sediments are used to trace major changes in the ecology of the lough under man's influence, especially in the past 100 years.

Inhalt

1. Introduction: Lough Neagh as a multipurpose resource.- 2. Geology, hydrology and land-use of Lough Neagh and its catchment.- 3. The Morphology, hydrodynamics and sedimentation in Lough Neagh.- 4. The optical properties of Lough Neagh.- 5. The major ion chemistry of Lough Neagh.- 6. Human settlement and economy of the Lough Neagh basin.- 7. The recent sediments of Lough Neagh, Part A: Structure, stratigraphy and geochronology.- 7. The recent sediments of Lough Neagh, Part B: Diatom and chironomid analysis.- 8. Phosphorus and nitrogen loadings to Lough Neagh and their management.- 9. Nutrient cycles in Lough Neagh.- 10. The phytoplankton populations of Lough Neagh.- 11. Planktonic primary production in Lough Neagh.- 12. Benthic algae in Lough Neagh.- 13. Pysiological ecology of Lough Neagh phytoplankton.- 14. The seasonal succession of the zooplankton of Lough Neagh.- 15. Some observations on the populations of Mysis relicta in Lough Neagh.- 16. The macroinvertebrate fauna of Lough Neagh.- 17. Heterotrophic micro-organisms in the water column and sediments of Lough Neagh.- 18. The fish of Lough Neagh, Part A: A historical and taxonomic perspective of the fish fauna of Lough Neagh.- 18. The fish of Lough Neagh, Part B: Investigations on salmon (Salmo salor L.) and eels (Anguilla anguilla L.) in the River Lower Bann.- 18. The fish of Lough Neagh, Part C: Investigations on brown trout (Salmo trutta L.).- 18. The fish of Lough Neagh, Part D: Investigations on pollan (Coregonus autumnalis pollan Thompson).- 18. The fish of Lough Neagh, Part E: Ecological studies of the fish community.- 19. The vegetation of Lough Neagh wetlands.- 20. The birds of Lough Neagh and Lough Beg.- 21. Lough Neagh into the twenty-first century.- Taxonomic/biological index.- General index.