This book provides a comprehensive overview of recent research on estuaries of the east coast of India, and how changing biogeochemical dynamics as a result of climate change and human activity have impacted estuaries and other open water ecosystems. Though estuaries only cover a very small portion of the earth’s hydrosphere, they are some of the most biogeochemically active regions among the global water bodies. As such, this book focuses on estuaries of the east coast of India going all the way to the Bay of Bengal, which is the world's largest freshwater input from perennial rivers and rain-fed estuaries, and is therefore a unique area of study. Through its unique coverage of the Bay of Bengal in particular, the book presents a new perspective not present in the literature on estuary biogeochemistry and ecosystem dynamics. Moreover, the book addresses SDG 13 (Climate Action) and 14 (Life below Water), with a focus on ecosystem services of the natural aquatic system.The book will be useful to researchers, policy makers, coastal managers and marine sustainability scientists and organizations.

This atlas aims to provide a ‘one-stop’ reference source of basic data on tropical marine ciliates that should be used for researchers worldwide. As one of main components, ciliates play vital roles in the microbial food web. Studies of ciliate diversity are, however, constrained by a lack of modern monographs and guides for the identification of tropical marine ciliates. Therefore, an image-rich guide or atlas like this book will undoubtedly be of great benefit for those who are not trained in ciliate taxonomy but who encounter ciliates in disciplines such as ecology, environmental biology, aquaculture and other related fields. We have carried out in-depth studies on ciliates along the coastal area of South China Sea for more than ten years and got a lot of ‘first-hand’ data. This atlas will assemble diagrams and photomicrographs of 315 free-living species of ciliate that have been found in the coastal area of the South China Sea. To be reader-friendly, habitats, ecological features and key references as well systematics will be provided for every species.

distances between groups of ciliates were as vast as significant hurdles to obtain copyright permissions the genetic distances between plants and animals for the over 1,000 required illustrations, and I put – THE major eukaryotic kingdoms at that time! the publication schedule ahead of this element. I continued to collaborate with Mitch, and in There are a number of significant illustrated guides 1991 my first “molecular” Magisterial student, to genera and species that have recently been pub- Spencer Greenwood, published an article estab- lished. References are made to these throughout lishing 1990 or thereabouts as the beginning of the book as sources that readers can consult for this the “Age of Refinement” – the period when gene aspect of ciliate diversity. A future project that I am sequencing techniques would deepen our under- contemplating is an illustrated guide to all the valid standing of the major lines of evolution within ciliate genera.