Biodiversity in the Marine Environment

by Philippe Goulletquer, Philippe Gros, Gilles Boeuf, Jacques Weber

Overview

The oceans cover over 70% of our planet. They are host to a biodiversity of tremendous wealth. Its preservation is now a global priority featuring in several international conventions and a confirmed objective of European policies and national strategies. Understanding the dynamics and the uses of the marine biodiversity is a genuine scientific challenge. Fourteen international experts have got together and identified five priority research themes to address the problem, based on analysing the state of knowledge.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789401785655
Publisher:	Springer Netherlands
Publication date:	02/20/2014
Edition description:	2014
Pages:	198
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.02(d)

About the Author

Philippe Goulletquer, PhD in biological oceanography, is in charge of issues of marine and coastal biodiversity at Ifremer. He is a member of the scientific council on Natural heritage & biodiversity.

Philippe Gros, a highly qualified professor of biological sciences at the École normale supérieure, joined Ifremer in 1984. He was director of Living resources there.

Gilles Boeuf, holding a PhD in developmental biology, is a professor at Pierre & Marie Curie university and President of the National museum of natural history (MNHN).

Jacques Weber, an economist and anthropologist, research director at the Cirad, lecturer at the École des hautes études and Pierre & Marie Curie university, is vice-chairman of the French committee for Man and biosphere.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements.- Foreword.- Introduction.- The importance of marine biodiversity.- Key features.- Hierarchical components.- The impacts of human activities on marine biodiversity.- The strategic values of research.- Status and trends.- How many marine species are there?.- Taxonomic records.- Cryptic species.- The DNA barcode.- The drive to identify new species.- The "taxonomic impediment".- Species under pressure.- Extinct species.- Endangered species.- Ecosystems under pressure: the deep sea.- Spatial patterning of characteristics.- Temporal patterns.- Conceptualising biodiversity.- Conceptual frameworks for relationships between biodiversity and human societies.- Choice of model framework.- Measuring biodiversity.- Biodiversity as a macroscopic descriptor in the European Union Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).- Drivers of changes in biodiversity and its uses.- Environmental drivers: a working framework.- Integrated scenarios and policies.- Policies and decision support.- Developing scenarios.- Quantitative methods, models and integrated assessment.- Research needs.- The framework: environmental research.- Naturalistic dimensions.- Human dimensions of research.- Developing modelling: a summarising approach.- Sources.- References.- Databases.- Abbreviations and acronyms.- Group of experts.

Editorial Reviews

From the book reviews:

“This excellent review, translated from French, extends beyond the general subject of biodiversity to encompass a wealth of information that will be valuable for managing and conserving living marine resources. … this concise, well-written book will be useful as a textbook and as a reference work on marine biodiversity. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals/practitioners.” (J. C. Briggs, Choice, Vol. 52 (1), September, 2014)

From the Publisher