Proceedings of the Smithsonian Marine Science Symposium


Book Description

The Smithsonian Marine Science Symposium was held on 15-16 November 2007 in Washington, D.C. It represented the first major dissemination of marine research results since the establishment of the Smithsonian Marine Science Network (MSN). The 39 papers in this volume represent a wide range of marine research studies that demonstrate the breadth and diversity of science initiatives supported by the MSN. The first section contains an overview of the MSN along with papers describing the multidisciplinary investigations spanning more than 37 years for the four Smithsonian marine facilities that constitute the Network: the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center at the Chesapeake Bay, Maryland; the National Museum of Natural History's Smithsonian Marine Station at Fort Pierce, Florida; the Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems Program, with its Carrie Bow Marine Field Station in Belize; and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Subsequent papers represent findings by Smithsonian scholars and their collaborators on overarching topics of marine biodiversity, evolution, and speciation; biogeography, invasive species, and marine conservation; and forces of ecological change in marine systems.




The Evolution and Fossil Record of Parasitism


Book Description

This two-volume edited book highlights and reviews the potential of the fossil record to calibrate the origin and evolution of parasitism, and the techniques to understand the development of parasite-host associations and their relationships with environmental and ecological changes. The book deploys a broad and comprehensive approach, aimed at understanding the origins and developments of various parasite groups, in order to provide a wider evolutionary picture of parasitism as part of biodiversity. This is in contrast to most contributions by parasitologists in the literature that focus on circular lines of evidence, such as extrapolating from current host associations or distributions, to estimate constraints on the timing of the origin and evolution of various parasite groups. This approach is narrow and fails to provide the wider evolutionary picture of parasitism on, and as part of, biodiversity. Volume one focuses on identifying parasitism in the fossil record, and sheds light on the distribution and ecological importance of parasite-host interactions over time. In order to better understand the evolutionary history of parasites and their relationship with changes in the environment, emphasis is given to viruses, bacteria, protists and multicellular eukaryotes as parasites. Particular attention is given to fungi and metazoans such as bivalves, cnidarians, crustaceans, gastropods, helminths, insects, mites and ticks as parasites. Researchers, specifically evolutionary (paleo)biologists and parasitologists, interested in the evolutionary history of parasite-host interactions as well as students studying parasitism will find this book appealing.




Advances in Sponge Science: Phylogeny, Systematics, Ecology


Book Description

On of two special issues of Advances in Marine Biology focusing on sponge science it features comprehensive reviews of the latest studies that are advancing our understanding of the fascinating marine phylum Porifera. The selected contributors are internationally renowned researchers in their respective fields and provide a thorough overview of the state-of-the-art of sponge science - This volume will become a reference to marine biologists with interest in benthic ecology and biotic interactions, including symbiosis chemical and molecular ecology systematics, phylogeny, and evolution sponge culture and tissue engineering




Coexistence


Book Description

This book is about tropical biology in action- how biologists grapple with the ecology and evolution of the great species diversity in tropical rainforests and coral reefs. Tropical rainforests are home to 50% of all the plant and animal species on earth, though they cover only about 2% of the planet. Coral reefs hold 25% of the world's marine diversity, though they represent only 0.1 % of the world's surface. The increase in species richness from the poles to the tropics has remained enigmatic to naturalists for more than 200 years. How have so many species evolved in the tropics? How can so many species coexist there? At a time when rainforests and coral reefs are shrinking, when the earth is facing what has been called the sixth mass extinction, understanding the evolutionary ecology of the tropics is everyone's business. Despite the fundamental importance of the tropics to all of life on earth, tropical biology has evolved relatively slowly and with difficulties - economic, political, and environmental. This book is also about tropical science in context, situated in the complex socio-political history, and the rich rainforests and coral reefs of Panama. There are no other books on the history of tropical ecology and evolution or on the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Thus situated in historical context, Jan Sapp's aim is to understand how naturalists have studied and conceptualized the great biological diversity and entangled ecology of tropics. This book has potential to be used in tropical biology classes, ecology courses, evolutionary ecology and it could also be useful in classes on the history of biology.




Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on the Biology of the Sipuncula


Book Description

In June 1970, a diverse group of scientists attended the International Symposium on the Biology of the Sipuncula and Echiura at the Marine Biological Station in Kotor, Yugoslavia. Forty-two years later in June 2012, an aspiring generation of like-minded scientists convened the Second International Symposium on the Biology of the Sipuncula (ISBS2) along the banks of the Fort Pierce Inlet to the Indian River Lagoon in Florida, USA. The primary objective of the second symposium was to collect the world's dedicated sipunculan biologists in one place for a long overdue face-to-face communication of past, present and future research. We met our objective. This proceedings volume includes a brief summary of workshop discussions and field events, and a compilation of selected research papers presented by an international group of sixteen scientists from twelve nations in attendance at the ISBS2. Herein, we highlight molecular, developmental, morphological, ecological and biogeographic diversity of adult and larval sipunculans. And, we introduce several of the outstanding research challenges associated with resolving sipunculan interrelationships, establishing standard sets of taxonomic characters, refining methods for identification of cryptic species, reconstructing an evolutionary framework of developmental life history patterns, and addressing implications of recent phylogenetic and phylogenomic hypotheses that have relocated the ancient radiation of unsegmented sipunculan body plans within the predominantly segmented Annelida.--Provided by publisher.




In the Wrong Place - Alien Marine Crustaceans: Distribution, Biology and Impacts


Book Description

In The Wrong Place: Alien Marine Crustaceans - Distribution, Biology And Impacts provides a unique view into the remarkable story of how shrimps, crabs, and lobsters – and their many relatives – have been distributed around the world by human activity, and the profound implications of this global reorganization of biodiversity for marine conservation biology. Many crustaceans form the base of marine food chains, and are often prominent predators and competitors acting as ecological engineers in marine ecosystems. Commencing in the 1800s global commerce began to move hundreds – perhaps thousands – of species of marine crustaceans across oceans and between continents, both intentionally and unintentionally. This book tells the story of these invasions from Arctic waters to tropical shores, highlighting not only the importance and impact of all prominent crustacean invasions in the world's oceans, but also the commercial exploitation of invasive crabs and shrimps. Topics explored for the first time in one volume include the historical roots of man's impact on crustacean biogeography, the global dispersal of crabs, barnacle invasions, insights into the potential scale of tropical invasions, the history of the world's most widely cultured shrimp, the invasive history and management of red king crabs in Norway, Chinese mitten crabs in England, and American blue crabs in Europe, the evolutionary ecology of green crabs, and many other subjects as well, touching upon all ocean shores.




Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review, Volume 59


Book Description

CHOICE Highly Recommended, Sept 2022 Oceanography and Marine Biology: An Annual Review remains one of the most cited sources in marine science and oceanography. The ever-increasing interest in work in oceanography and marine biology and its relevance to global environmental issues, especially global climate change and its impacts, creates a demand for authoritative refereed reviews summarizing and synthesizing the results of recent research. For nearly 60 years, OMBAR has been an essential reference for research workers and students in all fields of marine science. This volume considers such diverse topics as the Great Barrier Reef Expedition of 1928-29, Mediterranean marine caves, macromedusae in eastern boundary currents, marine biodiversity in Korea, and development of a geo-ecological carbonate reef system model to predict responses of reefs to climate change. Volume 59 is available to read Open Access on the Taylor & Francis eBooks site (https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books//10.1201/9781003138846) An international Editorial Board ensures global relevance and expert peer review, with editors from Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, Singapore and the United Kingdom. The series volumes find a place in the libraries of not only marine laboratories and oceanographic institutes, but also universities worldwide. If you are interested in submitting a review for consideration for publication in OMBAR, please email the Editor in Chief, Stephen Hawkins, at [email protected].







A History of Life in 100 Fossils


Book Description

A History of Life in 100 Fossils showcases 100 key fossils that together illustrate the evolution of life on earth. Iconic specimens have been selected from the renowned collections of the two premier natural history museums in the world, the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, and the Natural History Museum, London. The fossils ahve been chosen not only for their importance in the history of life, but also because of the visual story they tell. This stunning book is perfect for all readers because its clear explanations and beautiful photographs illuminate the significance of these amazing pieces, including 500 million-year-old Burgess Shale fossils that provide a window into early animal life in the sea, insects encapsulated by amber, the first fossil bird Archaeopteryx, and the remains of our own ancestors.