ABSTRACT

Coastal Ecosystem Processes, written by the renowned marine scientist Daniel Alongi, describes how pelagic and benthic food webs, from beaches and tidal flats to the continental edge, process energy and matter. This volume focuses on recent advances and new developments on how food webs are closely intertwined with the geology, chemistry, and physics of coastal seas. Dr. Alongi presents a process-functional approach as a way of understanding how the energetics of coastal ecosystems rely not only on exchanges within and between food chains, but how such functions are influenced by terrigenous and atmospheric processes.
There is a need for documentation and an awareness of just how necessary, yet delicate, is the interplay of biological and physical forces between coastal ocean, land, and the atmosphere. Marine scientists today need to make informed management decisions about sustainable development and conservation of these fragile ecosystems. Coastal Ecosystem Processes provides present and future marine scientists the latest coastal ecosystem information to make the right decisions concerning the ecology of our oceans.

chapter Chapter 1|11 pages

Introduction

chapter Chapter 2|29 pages

Beaches and Tidal Flats

chapter Chapter 3|50 pages

Mangroves and Salt Marshes

chapter Chapter 4|46 pages

Seaweed and Seagrass Ecosystems

chapter Chapter 5|44 pages

Coral Reefs

chapter Chapter 6|71 pages

The Coastal Ocean I. The Coastal Zone

chapter Chapter 7|69 pages

The Coastal Ocean II. The Shelf Proper and Shelf Edge

chapter Chapter 8|33 pages

Degradation and Conservation