Description

Biologists have made significant advances in our understanding of the Earth's shallow subtidal marine ecosystems, but the findings on these disparate regions have never before been documented and gathered in a single volume. Now, in Food Webs and the Dynamics of Marine Reefs , Tim R. McClanahan and George M. Branch fill this lacuna with a comparative and comprehensive collection of nine essays written by experts on specific aquatic regions. Each essay focuses on the food webs of a respective ecosystem and the factors affecting these communities, from the intense and direct pressure of human influence on fisheries to the multi-vector contributors to climate change. The book covers nine shallow water marine ecosystems from selected areas throughout the world: four coral reef systems, three hard bottom systems, and two kelp systems. In summarizing their organization, human influence on them, and recent developments in these ecosystems, the authors contribute to our understanding of their ecological organization and management. Food Webs and the Dynamics of Marine Reefs will be a useful tool for all benthic marine investigators, providing an expert, comparative view of these aquatic regions.

Features

• Spans many parts of the world
• Summarizes ecological findings about food web ecology.
• Presents case studies from well studied ecosystems.
• Advocates an ecosystem approach to management.
• Written by authors who have considerable first-hand experience in each of the ecosystems.
• Relevant Topics: How to manage complex ecosystems by understanding the principles of food webs.
• Understanding the ecosystem consequence of depleting predators and herbivores.

Product Details

248 pages; 3 b&w halftones, 41 line illustrations; 6-1/8 x 9-1/4; ISBN13: 978-0-19-531995-8ISBN10: 0-19-531995-8

About the Author(s)