The Biology of Soft Shores and Estuaries

by Colin Little

Overview

This book focuses on marine and estuarine soft sediments as complex and essential habitats for an astonishing variety of animals and plants whose lifestyles are intimately bound up with sediment structure. It discusses sediments as habitats first, then takes in turn the ecosystems found on sandy shores, mudflats and segrass beds, salt marshes and mangrove swamps, and life below the tidemarks. Adaptations of the organisms are fully described, and each chapter ends with a section on techniques. Later chapters discuss estuarine and lagoonal habitats, both of whoch contain primarily soft sediments, but add further complicating characteristics to those found in the sea. A discussion of estuarine food webs emphasizes the ways in which organisms interact. The book ends with a discussion of the ways in which marine and estuarine soft sediments have been abused by man, and some of the opportunities that have been taken to counteract these abuses.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780198504269
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	06/15/2000
Series:	Biology of Habitats Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	264
Sales rank:	964,099
Product dimensions:	9.18(w) x 6.20(h) x 0.56(d)

About the Author

University of Bristol

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: organisms, sediments, and water movements2. The world of particles: a variety of habitats3. The coarse extreme: life on sandy beaches4. A fine option: life on mudflats and seagrass beds5. Salt marshes and mangrove swamps6. Life at the bottom: sublittoral sediments and community structure7. Estuarine habitats and coastal lagoons8. The estuarine benthos and its distribution9. Life in the estuarine water column10. Estuarine ecosystems11. Uses and abuses: human impacts and counter-measuresFurther readingReferencesGlossaryAppendix: A brief classification of selected organismsIndex