Marine Ecological Processes presents a comprehensive analysis of the processes controlling marine ecosystems, communities, and populations. Providing an in-depth dissection of marine ecology, Marine Ecological Processes is an introduction to the concepts, approaches, and methods of this evolving discipline. In its third edition, this text maintains the previous structure, introducing marine environments, and covering population, community, and ecosystem levels of organization, as well as relevant biogeochemical and hydrodynamic mechanisms. The content is updated to include major features that new research has revealed in recent decades, but still highlights links to originators of critical ideas in the history of marine sciences. The greatest change in this edition is an expansion of each chapter to capture new awareness, and implications, of the rapid change affecting all aspects of marine environments, driven by anthropogenic forces operating through climate and oceanographic mechanisms.
Preface to the Third Edition
Preface to the Second Edition
Preface to the First Edition
Part I Primary production in marine environments
Chapter 1 Primary producers in the sea
1.1 Phytoplankton
1.2 Benthic producers
Chapter 2 Production: the formation of organic matter
2.1 Photosynthesis
2.2 Chemosynthesis
2.3 Measurement of producer biomass and primary production
2.4 Contributions by different marine primary producers
Part II Consumers in Marine Environments
Chapter 3 Dynamics of Populations of Consumers
3.1 Elements of the Mathematical Description of Growth of Populations
3.2 Survival Life Tables
3.3 Fecundity Life Tables
3.4 Some Properties of Life Table Variables
3.5 Reproductive Tactics
Chapter 4 Competition for Resources Among Consumers
4.1 Population Growth in Environments with Finite Resources
4.2 The Nature of Competition
4.3 Density-Dependent Control of Abundance
4.4 Density-Dependent Versus Density-Independent Effects on Abundance
4.5 Resource Partitioning
4.6 Niche Breadth and Species Packing
Chapter 5 Feeding and Responses to Food Abundance
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Functional Response to Prey Density
5.3 Numerical Responses by the Predator to Density of Prey
5.4 Developmental Response to Prey Density
Chapter 6 Food Selection by Consumers
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Behavioral Mechanisms Involved in Finding and Choosing Food
6.3 Factors Affecting Food Selection by Consumers
6.4 Examples of Feeding Mechanisms at Work: Suspension Feeding
6.5 Optimization in Food Selection by Consumers
6.6 Vulnerability and Accessibility of Food Items
6.7 The Importance of Alternate Prey
6.8 Interaction of Mechanisms of Predation
6.9 Predation and Stability of Prey Populations
Chapter 7 Processing of Consumed Energy
7.1 Flow of Energy Through Consumers
7.2 Assimilation
7.3 Respiration
7.4 Growth
7.5 Production
7.6 Energy Budgets for Populations
Part III Structure and Dynamics of Marine Communities
Chapter 8 Trophic Structure 1: Controls in Benthic Food Webs
8.1 Defining Food Webs
8.2 Controls of Community Structure
8.3 Control Mechanisms in Benthic Communities
Chapter 9 Trophic Structure 2: Components and Controls in Water Column Food Webs
9.1 Food Webs in Marine Water Columns
9.2 Microbial Food Webs
9.3 The Classic Microplankton Food Web
9.4 Speculations as to Control of Prey Populations by Larger Predators in the Marine Water Column
Chapter 10 Taxonomic Structure: Species Diversity
10.1 Introduction
10.2 Measurement of Diversity
10.3 Factors Affecting Diversity
10.4 Integration of Factors Affecting Diversity and Some Consequences
Chapter 11 Spatial Structure: Patchiness
11.1 Scales of Patchiness
11.2 Description of Spatial Distributions
11.3 Sources of Patchiness
11.4 Ecological Consequences of Patchiness
11.5 The Problem of Upscaling
Chapter 12 Development of Structure in Marine Communities: Colonization and Succession
12.1 Introduction
12.2 Colonization Processes
12.3 Case Histories of Colonization and Succession
12.4 Interaction Among Communities at Different Stages of Succession
12.5 Generalized Properties of Succession in Marine Environments
Part IV Functioning of Marine Ecosystems
Chapter 13 The Carbon Cycle: Production and Transformations of Organic Matter
13.1 Inorganic Carbon
13.2 The Carbon Cycle in Aerobic Environments
13.3 The Carbon Cycle in Anoxic Environments
Chapter 14 Nutrient Cycles and Ecosystem Stoichiometry
14.1 Phosphorus
14.2 Nitrogen
14.3 Sulfur
14.4 Ecosystem Energetics and Stoichiometry
Chapter 15 Seasonal Changes in Marine Ecosystems
15.1 Introduction
15.2 Water Column Seasonal Cycles
15.3 Benthic Seasonal Cycles
15.4 Control of Seasonal Cycles
Chapter 16 Long-Term and Large-Scale Change in Marine Ecosystems
16.1 Introduction
16.2 Large-Scale Effects of Long-Term Atmospheric Changes
16.3 Depletion of Fishery Stocks
16.4 Eutrophication
16.5 Toxic Contamination
16.6 Spread of Exotic Species
16.7 Harmful Algal Blooms
16.8 Interception of Freshwater Inputs and Sediment Loads
16.9 Multiple Factors in Concert: The Case of Black Sea
16.10 Implications of Long-Term, Large-Scale Changes
References
Index
Dr. Ivan Valiela serves as Senior Research Scientist for The Ecosystems Center at the Marine Biological Laboratory. His research includes analysis structure and controls on coastal ecosystems, land-sea couplings, impacts of urbanization and deforestation on coastal ecosystems, management of coastal environments, and international environmental policy.