News release Public Information Office   SLU 10880   Hammond, LA 70402   phone: 985-549-2341   fax: 985-549-2061 publicinfo@selu.edu Summer  2005 news releases Public Information home News archive Contact: Christina Chapple Date: 8/26/05   Click on image for publication quality photo  SOUTHEASTERN ECOLOGIST EDITS NEW BOOK ON WORLD’S LARGEST WETLANDS        HAMMOND – Paul Keddy decided to compile a book on the world’s largest wetlands after discovering that no one had previously identified them.        “How can we set priorities for protecting wetlands,” said Southeastern Louisiana University’s Edward G. Schlieder Chair in Environmental Studies, “if no one knows where the bigget ones are? And why can we produce maps of the landscape of Mars, yet lack a map of the largest wetlands on Earth?”        After working for 10 years with 22 scholars from 18 institutions in 10 countries, Keddy has answered the question in “The World’s Largest Wetlands,” published last month by Cambridge University Press.         The book, co-edited with the Southeastern wetlands ecologist’s long-time research associate Lauchlan Fraser of Thompson Rivers University in Canada, is the only single publication that comprehensively covers all the largest “wet and wild” areas of the globe. The book’s chapters on the 11 largest wetlands systems were written by leading experts, including a team from Southeastern, who share their understanding of the ecological dynamics of the large and fragile areas, their significance, and the importance of their conservation.        “We are very proud of Dr. Keddy's accomplishment, and we are growing accustomed to such high quality and internationally recognized work from him,” said Daniel McCarthy, interim dean of the College of Science and Technology. “This work is much more that just a list, but rather is a comprehensive scientific document that will prove to be an invaluable resource to all scientists involved in wetland research. It will also serve to inform the public about the environmental impact and concerns related to wetlands."        Keddy said he initially was surprised to find that no one had compiled a “top wetlands” list. “I wanted to include a table of the largest wetlands in one of my other books,” he said. “I assumed that the work was already done and sitting in a book or government publication or on the Web somewhere. But when I began phoning around, I couldn’t find the information. So, I realized I would have to do it myself.”        To do that, he called upon the expertise of colleagues worldwide – an international team of leading experts whose first language, in many cases, was Russian, French, Spanish or German. Since the scientists had to write in or translate their research into English, “You can imagine that it took quite a bit of editing,” Keddy said. “In fact, it was a bit like herding cats.”        “None of the contributors received any pay,” Keddy added. “They were involved simply because they believed in the project.”        The book documents that the world’s largest wetlands is not, as most would think, a tropical rainforest in South America, but a 620,000 square mile peat bog in western Siberia. The vast tropical swamp of the Amazon River floodplain is a close second, while the Mississippi Flood Plain, the wetland area that extends from Ohio to the mouth of the Mississippi River, is seventh.         The chapter on the Mississippi Flood Plain was written by Keddy’s Southeastern colleagues, Gary Shaffer and Dan Campbell, Southeastern graduate student Susanne S. Hoeppner, and Louisiana State University biology professor James G. Gosselink.         In addition to the Western Siberian Lowlands in Eurasia, the Amazon River in South America, and the Mississippi flood plain, Keddy’s list also includes the Hudson Bay Lowland in northeastern Canada; the Congo River basin, Lake Chad basin and River Nile basin, all in central Africa; the Mackenzie River basin in northwest Canada; the Pantanal region in Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay; the prairie potholes in the north central United States and south central Canada; and Magellanic moorland along the southern tip of South America.        Why was it important to identify the world’s largest wetlands systems?        Approximately 50 percent of the world’s wetlands have been lost, Keddy points out in the book’s preface. “Reduced wetland area,” he said, “causes more flooding in spring, less available water during drought, greater risk of water pollution, and less food production and reduced carbon storage.        “The issue of carbon storage, which may seem obscure, will be of growing importance,” Keddy said. “Large wetlands can actually reduce the Earth’s temperature by storing the carbon that drives global warming.  In a completely real way, we can say that the West Siberian Lowland in central Russia is actually reducing the rates of sea level rise here in Louisiana.”        “Further, by highlighting all the world’s largest wetlands in one book – wetlands that range across ecosystem types, international boundaries, and styles of research -- we aspire to nudge all areas of wetlands ecology and conservation biology back toward a common view and a common purpose,” Keddy said. The purpose includes, he added, “ensuring that the world’s wetlands are protected and managed within a global context.”        For additional information about “The World’s Largest Wetlands,” visit www.selu.edu/Academics/Faculty/pkeddy or www.cambridge.org.