Marine Biodiversity Patterns and Processes

About this book

The biodiversity of many ecosystems is under threat and although seas cover the majority of our planet's surface, far less is known about the biodiversity of marine environments than that of terrestrial systems. It is also not clear whether many of the patterns known to occur on land also occur in the sea. Until we have a firmer idea of the diversity of a wide range of marine habitats and what controls it, we have little hope of conserving biodiversity, or determining the impact of human activities such as mariculture, fishing, dumping of waste and pollution. This book brings together key studies from the deep sea and open ocean, to tropical shores and polar regions to consider how comparable the patterns and processes underlying diversity are in these different ecosystems. Marine Biodiversity will be a major resource for all those interested in biodiversity and its conservation.

Contents

Foreword: the value of diversity Crispin Tickell; 1. Marine biodiversity in its global context M. H. Williamson; 2. Gradients in marine biodiversity J. S. Gray; 3. Pelagic biodiversity M. V. Angel; 4. Biological diversity in oceanic macrozooplankton: more than counting species A. C. Pierrot-Bults; 5. Large scale patterns of species diversity in the deep sea benthos M. A. Rex, R. J. Etter and C. T. Stuart; 6. Diversity, latitude and time: patterns in the shallow sea A. Clarke and J. A. Crame; 7. High benthic species diversity in deep-sea sediments: the importance of hydrodynamics J. D. Gage; 8. Diversity and structure of tropical Indo-Pacific benthic communities: relation to regimes of nutrient input J. D. Taylor; 9. Why are coral reef communities so diverse? A. J. Kohn; 10. The biodiversity of coral reef fishes R. F. G. Ormond and C. M. Roberts; 11. The historical component of marine taxonomic diversity gradients J. A. Crame and A. Clarke; 12. Population genetics and demography of marine species J. E. Neigel; 13. Discovering unrecognised diversity among marine molluscs J. Grahame, S. L. Hull, P. J. Mill and R. Hemingway; 14. Ecosystem function at low biodiversity - the Baltic example R. Elmgren and C. Hill; 15. Land-seascape diversity of the US east coast coastal zone with particular reference to estuaries G. C. Ray, B. P. Hayden, M. G. McCormick-Ray and T. M. Smith; 16. The development of mariculture and its implications for biodiversity M. C. M. Beveridge, L. G. Ross and J. A. Stewart; 17. Protecting marine biodiversity and integrated coastal zone management J. S. H. Pullen; 18. Conserving biodiversity in north-east Atlantic marine ecosystems K. Hiscock; Index.

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