This book began life as a series of lectures given to second and third year
undergraduates at Oxford University.
These lectures were designed to give students insights as to how marine
ecosystems functioned, how they were being affected by natural and human interventions,
and how we might be able to conserve them and manage them sustainably for the good of
people, both recreationally and economically.
This book presents 10 chapters, beginning with principles of oceanography
important to ecology, through discussions of the magnitude of marine biodiversity and the
factors influencing it, the functioning of marine ecosystems at within trophic levels such
as primary production, competition and dispersal, to different trophic level interactions
such as herbivory, predation and parasitism. The final three chapters look at the
more applied aspects of marine ecology, discussion fisheries, human impacts, and
management and conservation.
Other textbooks covering similar topics tend to treat the topics from the point
of view of separate ecosystems, with chapters on reefs, rocks and deep sea. This
book however is topic driven as described above, and each chapter makes full use of
examples from all appropriate marine ecosystems. The book is illustrated throughout with
many full colour diagrams and high quality photographs.
The book is aimed at undergraduate and graduate students at colleges and universities,
and it is hoped that the many examples from all over the world will provide global
relevance and interest.
Both authors have long experience of research and teaching in marine ecology.
Martin Speight’s first degree was in marine zoology at UCNW Bangor, and he has taught
marine ecology and conservation at Oxford for 25 years. His research students study
tropical marine ecology from the Caribbean through East Africa to the Far East.
Peter Henderson is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Oxford, and is
Director of Pisces Conservation in the UK. He has worked on marine and freshwater
fisheries, as well as ecological and economic impacts and exploitation of the sea in North
and South America as well as Europe.
Both authors have long experience of research and teaching in marine ecology.
Martin Speight’s first degree was in marine zoology at UCNW Bangor,
and he has taught marine ecology and conservation at Oxford for 25 years. His research
students study tropical marine ecology from the Caribbean through East Africa to the Far
East.
Peter Henderson is a Senior Research Associate at the University of
Oxford, and is Director of Pisces Conservation in the UK. He has worked on marine and
freshwater fisheries, as well as ecological and economic impacts and exploitation of the
sea in North and South America as well as Europe.
Table of Contents
Preface.
Acknowledgments.
1 The physical template.
2 Marine biodiversity.
3 Primary production and chemosynthesis.
4 Primary consumption: marine herbivores and detritivores.
5 Predators, parasites, and pathogens.
6 Competition and succession.
7 Dispersal and settlement.
8 The exploitation and maintenance of marine and estuarine fisheries.
9 Threats to marine ecosystems: the effects of man.
10 Marine conservation.
Appendix.
References.
Index.
256 pages, Hardcover