Intro -- Cover -- Contents -- Foreword -- Preface -- About the Authors -- Acknowledgements -- Part I: The Basics or How Stuff Happens -- Chapter 1: Introduction -- 1.1 USING THE TOOLS -- 1.2 ASKING BETTER QUESTIONS -- 1.3 ORGANIZATION OF THE CHAPTERS -- Chapter 2: The water cycle (hydrology) -- 2.1 FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS THAT DETERMINE SURFACE WATER FLOW -- 2.2 WHYAND HOW WATER GOES INTO THE GROUND: SOIL INFILTRATION -- 2.3 WHAT WATER DOES ONCE IT ENTERS THE GROUND -- 2.3.1 Lateral movement of water -- 2.4 SUBSURFACE WATER-PLANT INTERACTIONS -- 2.5 PEAK FLOW -- 2.6 WHY WATER MIGHT NOT GO INTO THE GROUND: SOIL SATURATION -- 2.7 WHY WATER MIGHT NOT GO INTO THE GROUND: CANOPY INTERCEPTION AND EVAPORATION -- 2.8 HOW DOES WATER GET BACK UP INTO THE SKY? EVAPOTRANSPIRATION -- 2.9 WATER IN THE AIR - HUMIDITY -- 2.10 SUMMARY -- Chapter 3: Conservation of mass or everything goes somewhere -- 3.1 THE CHEMICAL ELEMENTS THAT COMPRISE THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF LIFE (AND MOST OF EVERYTHING IN OUR IMMEDIATE ENVIRONMENT) -- 3.1.1 Carbon -- 3.1.2 Nitrogen -- 3.1.3 Phosphorus -- 3.2 THE MYRIAD FORMS AND POOLS OF CARBON, NITROGEN, AND PHOSPHORUS -- 3.2.1 Carbon -- 3.2.1.1 Carbon pools -- 3.2.1.2 Equilibrium between carbon pools -- 3.2.1.3 Effect of solar energy -- 3.2.1.4 How disruptions to the equilibria among pools can occur - atmospheric carbon emissions -- 3.2.1.5 Natural constraints on productivity -- 3.2.1.6 Role of temperature in the carbon cycle -- 3.2.1.7 Summary -- 3.2.2 Nitrogen -- 3.2.2.1 Nitrogen pools -- 3.2.2.2 Nitrogen transport -- 3.2.3 Phosphorus -- 3.2.3.1 Phosphorus pools and cycling -- 3.2.3.2 Summary -- Chapter 4: Soils, or how dirt plays a part in the precarious balancing act of cycles -- 4.1 WHAT ARE SOILS? -- 4.2 CYCLING THAT OCCURS ON A HUMAN SCALE -- 4.3 SOILS: WHERE THE CARBON, NITROGEN, AND PHOSPHORUS AND WATER CYCLES MEET.

4.4 THE UNDERAPPRECIATED SERVICES OF SOILS -- 4.5 SOIL PROPERTIES -- 4.6 SOIL EROSION -- 4.7 THE SOIL BIOME - MICROORGANISMS MAKE THE CYCLE GO -- 4.8 SUMMARY -- Part II: Stuff Happens and for Every Action There Is a Reaction -- Chapter 5: Natural and human-induced change -- 5.1 NATURAL VARIATION -- 5.2 ANTHROPOGENIC DISTURBANCE: CONSIDERING HUMAN EFFECTS -- 5.3 THE HUMAN FACTOR -- 5.4 ARTIFICIAL FERTILIZER -- 5.5 TRANSPORT OF NITROGEN AND PHOSPHORUS THROUGH GRAIN, LIVESTOCK, HUMANS, AND SLUDGE -- 5.6 LANDSCAPE MODIFICATIONS THAT AFFECT WATER, AND CARBON, NITROGEN, AND PHOSPHORUS -- 5.6.1 Land modifications affecting the chemical balancing act -- 5.6.1.1 Altered vegetation and land cover -- 5.6.1.2 Irrigation and drainage: two sides of the same coin -- 5.6.1.3 Levees -- 5.6.1.4 Dams and reservoirs -- 5.6.1.5 Livestock production and manure -- 5.6.1.6 Fertilizers and agricultural chemicals -- 5.6.1.7 Other sources of nutrients and carbon -- Chapter 6: Impacts of human-caused changes to water flow and to the balancing of the carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles -- 6.1 IMPACTS FROM FLOODS AND DROUGHTS -- 6.1.1 Flood damages -- 6.1.2 Drought impacts -- 6.2 WATER QUALITY IMPACTS -- 6.2.1 Environmental impacts of soil erosion and sediment transport -- 6.2.1.1 How water erodes soils -- 6.2.1.2 Downstream impacts of soil erosion -- 6.2.1.3 Wind erosion -- 6.2.2 Impacts of added nutrients -- 6.2.2.1 Nutrient transport by water -- 6.2.2.2 Conservation to reduce excess nutrient transport -- 6.3 AIR QUALITY -- 6.3.1 Climate impacts -- 6.4 SUMMARY -- Chapter 7: Putting it all together: case studies -- 7.1 THE COMMONS -- 7.2 CASE STUDIES -- 7.2.1 Some background -- 7.2.2 Case study 1 - the Great Flood of 1993: gravity matters and water goes somewhere -- 7.2.2.1 Take home lesson -- 7.2.3 Case study 2 - watershed management: Crabtree Creek Raleigh, NC.

7.2.3.1 Take home message -- 7.2.4 Case study 3 - the Des Moines River watershed: a more integrated examination -- 7.2.4.1 Take home message -- 7.2.5 Case study 4 - eutrophication in western Lake Erie -- 7.2.5.1 Take home message -- 7.2.6 Case study 5 - Erath county, Texas: dairy country -- 7 2.6.1 Take home message -- 7.3 THE ROD SERLING FACTOR: FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION -- 7.3.1 Greenhouse gas and climate change: what will happen -- 7.3.2 Marginal land and soil erosion -- 7.3.2.1 Summary -- 7.3.2.2 The challenge -- 7.3.3 Draining wetlands: everything goes somewhere redux -- 7.3.3.1 Take home message -- 7.3.3.2 The challenge -- Chapter 8: The answer to what is next, summary, and conclusions -- 8.1 THE ANSWER TO 'WHAT NEXT?': PUBLIC POLICY - WHEN INDIVIDUAL ACTION MAY NOT BE ENOUGH -- 8.1.1 Policy affects behavior -- 8.2 ADAPTIVE MANAGEMENT - PLANNING UNDER UNCERTAINTY -- 8.3 DEVELOPING PUBLIC POLICY -- 8.4 LESSON SUMMARY -- 8.5 CONCLUSION -- Appendix A: Acidity -- Appendix B: Chemical elements of life -- Appendix C: Building blocks of life -- Appendix D: Ecosystem services -- Recommended Resources -- Glossary -- Literature Cited.