Coral Reefs of the USA provides a complete overview of the present status of knowledge regarding all coral reef areas within the USA and its territories. It is written by the most experienced authorities in their fields and geographic areas. Stretching from the Caribbean to the western Pacific, the coral reefs of the USA span extensive geographic and biotic diversity, occur in a wide variety of geomorphological settings, and provide a representative cross-section of Holocene reef-building. This book will therefore be of broad general interest. For the first time, complete scholarly reviews are given for the geology, geomorphology and the biology of reefs encompassing a vast area stretching from the Mariana Islands in the west, Samoa in the south, Hawaii in the north and the Virgin Islands in the east. This book is not a status report, but will provide up-to-date information about stressors and the biotic responses of the reefs, as well as the geological explanations why these reefs exist in the first place. It will be an invaluable baseline-reference for all those who are engaged in research or management of these coral reefs or to those who simply enjoy being well-informed about one of the most iconic ecosystems of the USA.

Inhalt
Introduction: A Diversity of Oceans, Reefs, People, and Ideas: A Perspective of US Coral Reef Research.- Controls on Late Quaternary Coral Reefs of the Florida Keys.- A Perspective on the Biology of Florida Keys Coral Reefs.- Coral Reefs, Present and Past, on the West Florida Shelf and Platform Margin.- The Reef Tract of Continental Southeast Florida (Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties, USA).- Biology and Ecology of Coral Reefs and Coral Communities in the Flower Garden Banks Region, Northwestern Gulf of Mexico.- Coral-reef Geology: Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.- Ecology of Coral Reefs in the US Virgin Islands.- Biology and Ecology of Puerto Rican Coral Reefs.- Reef Geology and Biology of Navassa Island.- Geology of Hawaii Reefs.- Biology and Ecological Functioning of Coral Reefs in the Main Hawaiian Islands.- Geology and Geomorphology of Coral Reefs in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.- Biology of Coral Reefs in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.- US Coral Reefs in the Line and Phoenix Islands, Central Pacific Ocean: History, Geology, Oceanography, and Biology.- US Coral Reefs in the Line and Phoenix Islands, Central Pacific Ocean: Status, Threats and Significance.- Aspects of the Biology and Geomorphology of Johnston and Wake Atolls, Pacific Ocean.- Geologic Setting and Geomorphology of Coral Reefs in the Mariana Islands (Guam and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands).- Aspects of Biology and Ecological Functioning of Coral Reefs in Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.- Geologic Setting and Ecological Functioning of Coral Reefs in American Samoa.- Deep-Water Coral Reefs of the United States.