Marine Biodiversity: Patterns and Processes

by Edited by Rupert F. G. Ormond , John D. Gage , Martin V. Angel , Foreword by Crispin Tickell

• ISBN13: 9780521552226
• ISBN10: 0521552222
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-01-13
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

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.

Table of Contents

List of contributors	ix	(4)
Foreword: The value of diversity.	xiii
Sir Crispin Tickell
1 Marine biodiversity in its global context.	1	(17)
M. Williamson
2 Gradients in marine biodiversity	18	(17)
J. S. Gray
3 Pelagic biodiversity.	35	(34)
M. V. Angel
4 Biological diversity in oceanic macrozooplankton: More than counting species.	69	(25)
A.C. Pierrot-Bults
5 Large-scale patterns of species diversity in the deep-sea benthos.	94	(28)
M. A. Rex
R. J. Etter
C. T. Stuart
6 Diversity, latitude and time: Patterns in the shallow sea.	122	(26)
A. Clarke
J. A. Crame
7 High benthic species diversity in deep-sea sediments: The importance of hydrodynamics.	148	(30)
J. D. Gage
8 Diversity and structure of tropical Indo-Pacific benthic communities: Relation to regimes of nutrient input.	178	(23)
J. D. Taylor
9 Why are coral reef communities so diverse?	201	(15)
A. J. Kohn
10 The biodiversity of coral reef fishes.	216	(42)
R. F. G. Ormond
C.M. Roberts
11 The historical component of marine taxonomic diversity gradients.	258	(16)
J. A. Crame
A. Clarke
12 Population genetics and demography of marine species.	274	(19)
J. E. Neigel
13 Discovering unrecognised diversity among marine molluscs.	293	(26)
J. Grahame
S. L. Hull
P. J. Mill
R. Hemingway
14 Ecosystem function at low biodiversity -- the Baltic example.	319	(18)
R. Elmgren
C. Hill
15. Land-seascape diversity of the U S A East Coast coastal zone with particular reference to estuaries.	337	(35)
G.C. Ray
B. P. Hayden
M.G. McCormick-Ray
T.M. Smith
16. The development of mariculture and its implications for biodiversity.	372	(22)
M.C.M. Beveridge
L. G. Ross
J. A. Stewart
17. Protecting marine biodiversity and integrated coastal zone management.	394	(21)
J. S. H. Pullen
18. Conserving biodiversity in North-East Atlantic marine ecosystems.	415	(14)
K. Hiscock
Author index	429	(8)
Species index	437	(6)
Subject index	443