E-raamat: Tropical Marine Ecology [Wiley Online]

"The purpose of this book is to document the structure and function of tropical marine populations, communities, and ecosystems in relation to environmental factors including climate patterns and climate change, and patterns of oceanographic phenomena such as tides and currents and major oceanographic features, as well as chemical and geological drivers. The book focuses on estuarine, coastal, shelf and open ocean ecosystems. No such book on the tropical marine realm exists for the advanced undergraduateand postgraduate student, researcher, or manager. Another reason for writing this book is to reorient and expand the knowledge base of marine ecology. Several excellent textbooks exist on marine biology and ecology, but they are inadequate in describing life in the tropics; iconic habitats such as coral reefs and mangroves are usually covered only briefly. Until recently this perfunctory treatment was understandable considering that the study of marine ecology has focused on boreal and temperate seas near where the major oceanographic institutes and universities reside. Since the 1980s, however, there has been a drastic rise in the number of journal articles published on aspects in tropical marine ecology to the extent that a textbook focusing on the tropics is now warranted"--

No realm on Earth elicits thoughts of paradise more than the tropics. The tropical marine realm is special in myriad ways and for many reasons from seas of higher latitude, in housing iconic habitats such as coral reefs, snow white beaches, crystal clear waters, mangrove forests, extensive and rich seagrass meadows and expansive river deltas, such as the exemplar, the Amazon. But the tropics also has an even more complex side: tropical waters give rise to cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons, and unique oceanographic phenomena including the El Niño- Southern Oscillation which affects global climate patterns.   

Tropical Marine Ecology documents the structure and function of tropical marine populations, communities, and ecosystems in relation to environmental factors including climate patterns and climate change, and patterns of oceanographic phenomena such as tides and currents and major oceanographic features, as well as chemical and geological drivers. The book focuses on estuarine, coastal, continental shelf and open ocean ecosystems. The first part of the book deals with the climate, physics, geology, and chemistry of the tropical marine environment. The second section focuses on the origins, diversity, biogeography, and the structure and distribution of tropical biota. The third part explores the rates and patterns of primary and secondary production, and their drivers, and the characteristics of pelagic and benthic food webs. The fourth part examines how humans are altering tropical ecosystems via unsustainable fisheries, the decline and loss of habitat and fragmentation, Further, pollution is altering an earth already in the throes of climate change.  

Tropical Marine Ecology is an authoritative and comprehensive introduction to tropical marine ecology for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students. It is also a rich resource and reference work for researchers and professional managers in marine science.