Studies of marine ecology have traditionally been approached through lectures and field courses devoted mainly to intertidal and inshore habitats, and it is surprising in these days of increased awareness of man's environmental impact that so little attention has been given to integrated approaches involving the whole coastal zone and including the terrestrial part, which is man's major habitat. The coastal zone has been the subject of extensive investigation, not only because of its biological diversity and accessibility, but also because of its economic and aesthetic importance to man. This book is written with the intention of providing a concise but readable account of coastal ecology for advanced undergraduates and immediate postgraduates. We have adopted a habitat-organismal ap­ proach because we believe that a knowledge of biota and major features of their environment is the best key to an understanding of both larger-scale processes, such as energy flow and nutrient cycling, and smaller-scale but equally fundamental processes, such as behavioural and physiological ecology. Examples have been selected from polar, temperate and tropical regions of the world. The breadth of the subject has dictated selectivity from sources too numerous to acknowledge individually, but we have included an up-to-date reference list for the main subjects of each chapter.

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1 The Coastal Environment.- Coastal topography.- embayed coasts.- plains coasts.- new coasts.- Cliffs.- Sediments.- Water movement.- Waves.- internal waves.- storm surges.- tsunamis.- tides.- seiches.- currents.- Temperature, salinity and thermoclines.- Organic matter.- Maritime climates.- 2 The Neritic Province.- Plankton.- Phytoplankton.- Zooplankton.- Meroplankton.- bac-terioplankton.- Adaptations amongst planktonie organisms.- Light, nutrients and the seasonal cycle.- Grazing.- Spatial patterns.- Patchiness.- vertical migration.- Trophic interrelationships.- Productivity.- 3 Life on Rocky Coasts.- Life habits and adaptations.- water movement.- desiccation.- temperature and light.- feeding strategies.- life cycles.- Zonation.- a descriptive framework.- Factors influencing zonation.- physical factors.- biological factors.- settlement and behaviour.- Geographical and local distribution, patchiness.- Disturbance, diversity and community organization.- Productivity and trophic interrelationships.- Other habitats.- algal epifaunas.- crevices.- tidal rapids.- boulders.- subtidal rock.- 4 Life in Sediments.- The physical background.- Prokaryotes and interstitial chemistry.- sediment sulphur cycling.- Sediment Protista.- Macrophytes.- sea-grasses.- sea-grass communities.- Bottom communities.- Some macrofaunal representatives.- Polychaeta.- Mollusca.- Crustacea.- Echinodermata.- Bioturbation.- Meiofauna.- sand meiofauna.- meiofaunal and benthic productivity.- Other aspects.- 5 Brackish-Water Environments.- Types of estuary.- coastal plain estuaries.- bar-built estuaries.- tectonic estuaries.- fjords.- Major environmental features.- water circulation and salinity.- sedimentation.- other factors.- The biota of estuaries.- Adaptations of estuarine organisms.- Productivity and food webs.- Brackish and hypersaline environments.- estuarine realms.- hypersaline lagoons.- brackish seas.- tidepools.- brine seeps.- 6 Coral Reefs.- Classification.- fringing reefs.- barrier reefs.- atolls.- patch reefs.- Distribution and limiting factors.- Reef morphology and zonation.- Nutrition, calcification and growth.- Species interactions.- mutualism.- competition.- predation.- grazing.- Physical disturbance.- Diversity gradients and biogeography.- Productivity.- 7 Marshes and Mangroves.- Saltmarshes.- Establishment.- Succession, zonation and marsh structure.- Other flora and fauna.- Trophic structure and energy flow.- Mangroves.- Geographical distribution.- Zonation.- Succession.- Adaptation of mangroves.- Mangrove fauna.- Primary productivity; trophic interrelationships.- 8 Other Coastal Habitats.- Sand dunes.- the strandline.- dune ridge formation.- dune slacks.- dune fauna.- West coast deserts.- Shingle beaches.- Grassland and heath.- Coastal woodlands.- Cliffs.- Swamps and mires.- The ice edge.- 9 The Inshore Harvest.- Sponges.- Corals.- Worms.- Crustacea.- Shrimps.- Crabs.- lobsters and spiny lobsters.- Mollusca.- Bivalves.- Gastropods.- squid and octopus.- Commercial fish.- demersal fish.- pelagic grazers.- pelagic predators.- fisheries research.- fish culture.- Other coastal fish.- Higher marine vertebrates.- snakes and lizards.- crocodiles and turtles.- marine mammals.- Seaweed resources.- Environmental impact of fisheries.- 10 Coastal Birds.- Classification of coastal birds.- Distribution.- Adaptations to the marine environment.- Food acquisition.- Breeding ecology.- Mortality, longevity and regulation of numbers.- Migration and foraging.- The importance of birds in coastal ecosystems.- 11 Coastal Management.- Physical resources.- space.- power generation.- Mineral resources.- Pollution.- pesticides and related compounds.- heavy metals.- radioactivity.- oil.- organic matter.- nutrients.- Public health.- Pests and introductions.- Fouling.- Access, recreation and tourism.- Planning and legislation.- Coastal conservation.- detection and prediction of change.- coastal nature reserves.- System modelling.- In conclusion.- Envoi.- References and Further Reading.