Coral Reefs of the Eastern Tropical Pacific


Book Description

This book documents and examines the state of health of coral reefs in the eastern tropical Pacific region. It touches on the occurrence of coral reefs in the waters of surrounding countries, and it explores their biogeography, biodiversity and condition relative to the El NiƱo southern oscillation and human impacts. Additionally contained within is a field that presents information on many of the species presented in the preceding chapters.




Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs


Book Description

Coral reefs are the largest landforms built by plants and animals. Their study therefore incorporates a wide range of disciplines. This encyclopedia approaches coral reefs from an earth science perspective, concentrating especially on modern reefs. Currently coral reefs are under high stress, most prominently from climate change with changes to water temperature, sea level and ocean acidification particularly damaging. Modern reefs have evolved through the massive environmental changes of the Quaternary with long periods of exposure during glacially lowered sea level periods and short periods of interglacial growth. The entries in this encyclopedia condense the large amount of work carried out since Charles Darwin first attempted to understand reef evolution. Leading authorities from many countries have contributed to the entries covering areas of geology, geography and ecology, providing comprehensive access to the most up-to-date research on the structure, form and processes operating on Quaternary coral reefs.




Coral Reefs of the Western Pacific Ocean in a Changing Anthropocene


Book Description

The monograph is based on the research and training activities in the Western Pacific Ocean Region within the umbrella of UNESCO/IOC-Sub-Commission for the Western Pacific Region. The results of these activities are compared to cases from other tropical and subtropical regions on this planet to make the knowledge applicable to global aspects of sustainability of coral reef ecosystems. In this monograph, we examine the coral reefs from viewpoint of multidisciplinary approaches, including, environmental impacts, coral biology and system ecology, biogeochemical cycles and processes that drive the material and energy flow through the food web, as well as the proxies in geochemistry that have been used to track the responses of coral reefs to the changing climate and human perturbations. Although this study is focused on the Western Pacific Ocean, the Western Pacific Ocean is so large and diverse that most reef environment types on this planet are located within it. Therefore, knowledge gained in this study is relevant to the application of coastal management in practice as well as in the teaching classes on the interactions between coral reef ecosystems with changing environments.







Status of Coral Reefs in the Southwest Pacific, 2004


Book Description

"Coral reefs are one of the most diverse and biologically productive ecosystems in the world. They play an integral part in the lives of the people of the South Pacific. South Pacific coastal communities depend on them for subsistence and income generation. Some of the South Pacific economies to large extent are also dependent on coral reefs, especially through the tourism sector." --Foreword.







World Atlas of Coral Reefs


Book Description

An up-to-date, detailed, and fully-illustrated account of the biodiversity and status of coral reefs.




Coral Reefs of the World


Book Description

A broad survey of the coral reefs of the world over three volumes, intended to establish priorities for reef conservation. The review includes distribution, conservation status, legislation, recommendations and accounts of sites of scientific interest. m




The Ecology of Fishes on Coral Reefs


Book Description

This book provides a comprehensive and up-to-date review of the ecology of coral reef fishes presented by top researchers from North America and Australia. Immense strides have been made over the past twenty years in our understanding of ecological systems in general and of reef fish ecology in particular. Many of the methodologies that reef fish ecologists use in their studies will be useful to a wider audience of ecologists for the design of their ecological studies. Significant among the impacts of the research on reef fish ecology are the development of nonequilibrium models of community organization, more emphasis on the role of recruitment variability in structuring local assemblages, the development and testing of evolutionary models of social organization and reproductive biology, and new insights into predator-prey and plant-herbivore interactions.




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