This open access book summarizes peer-reviewed articles and the abstracts of oral and poster presentations given during the YOUMARES 9 conference which took place in Oldenburg, Germany, in September 2018. The aims of this book are to summarize state-of-the-art knowledge in marine sciences and to inspire scientists of all career stages in the development of further research. These conferences are organized by and for young marine researchers. Qualified early-career researchers, who moderated topical sessions during the conference, contributed literature reviews on specific topics within their research field. .

This open access book summarizes peer-reviewed articles and the abstracts of oral and poster presentations given during the YOUMARES 9 conference which took place in Oldenburg, Germany, in September 2018. The aims of this book are to summarize state-of-the-art knowledge in marine sciences and to inspire scientists of all career stages in the development of further research. These conferences are organized by and for young marine researchers. Qualified early-career researchers, who moderated topical sessions during the conference, contributed literature reviews on specific topics within their research field. This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.

This open access book presents the proceedings volume of the YOUMARES 8 conference, which took place in Kiel, Germany, in September 2017, supported by the German Association for Marine Sciences (DGM). The YOUMARES conference series is entirely bottom-up organized by and for YOUng MARine RESearchers. Qualified early career scientists moderated the scientific sessions during the conference and provided literature reviews on aspects of their research field. These reviews and the presenters’ conference abstracts are compiled here. Thus, this book discusses highly topical fields of marine research and aims to act as a source of knowledge and inspiration for further reading and research.

This reference highlights the significance of marine ecosystems, encompassing seaweed beds, seagrasses, coral reefs, mangroves, estuaries, and protected areas, as a remarkable gateway to overcoming healthcare challenges and unlocking a rich trove of bioactive compounds for drug discovery. One of the key highlights of this book is its exploration of the development of marine bio-drugs, a field that demands collaboration among scientists from both academic and industrial fronts. The editors also include a prospective review on marine environments, emphasizing the necessity for big data, collective knowledge sharing, financial support, and streamlined administrative processes, all of which contribute to enhancing innovation in the drug discovery process. Another feature includes reference lists that allow researchers to explore topics of interest in depth. With twelve comprehensive chapters, this book extensively covers marine ecosystem biodiversity, productivity, protected areas, and the intricate interplay of biotic and abiotic factors that shape these ecosystems. Readers will learn about important bioactive compounds within marine organisms and how to use this knowledge to outline a strategy for bio-drug discovery. The book caters to a diverse audience of researchers, students, ecologists, microbiologists, pharmacologists, and biotechnologists who are engaged in studying the dynamic components of marine environments. By providing the latest insights and strategies in the realm of bio-drug discovery from marine resources, this book serves as an invaluable resource for scholars and professionals seeking to tap into the potential of these unique ecosystems.

This encyclopedia adopts a wider definition for the concept of ocean engineering. Specifically, it includes (1) offshore engineering: fixed and floating offshore oil and gas platforms; pipelines and risers; cables and moorings; buoy technology; foundation engineering; ocean mining; marine and offshore renewable energy; aquaculture engineering; and subsea engineering; (2) naval architecture: ship and special marine vehicle design; intact and damaged stability; technology for energy efficiency and green shipping; ship production technology; decommissioning and recycling; (3) polar and Arctic Engineering: ice mechanics; ice-structure interaction; polar operations; polar design; environmental protection; (4) underwater technologies: AUV/ROV design; AUV/ROV hydrodynamics; maneuvering and control; and underwater-specific communicating and sensing systems for AUV/ROVs. It summarizes the A–Z of the background and application knowledge of ocean engineering for use by ocean scientists and ocean engineers as well as nonspecialists such as engineers and scientists from all disciplines, economists, students, and politicians. Ocean engineering theories, ocean devices and equipment, ocean design and operation technologies are described by international experts, many from industry and each entry offers an introduction and references for further study, making current technology and operating practices available for future generations to learn from. The book also furthers our understanding of the current state of the art, leading to new and more efficient technologies with breakthroughs from new theory and materials. As the land resources approach the exploitation limit, ocean resources are becoming the next choice for the sustainable development. As such, ocean engineering is vital in the 21st century.

This perceptive book evaluates the effectiveness of current ocean governance as it aims to respond to the threats of increased sea temperatures, salination, biodiversity loss, overfishing, and exploitation of ocean resources. Contributors pose the key question: what type of political space are the oceans and is it possible to create, implement and assess an international framework which enables the oceans to be governed?

Worldwide, marine ecosystems have been lost and degraded due to anthropogenic disturbances. For example, oyster reefs have declined by at least ∼85%, coral reefs by ∼19%, seagrasses by ∼29%, North American salt marshes by ∼42%, and mangroves by ∼35% from the early 19th century. Deepwater reefs and deep-sea vents are not immune and have also been reduced in extent in many areas. Factors driving these losses include habitat destruction, pollution, invasive species, overfishing, trawling, mining and, more recently, climate change effects, such as ocean warming, species range changes and acidification. These habitat declines are occurring at a time when marine waters are being used at or near their maximum productive capacity to meet the contemporary needs of an ever-increasing human population. Because coastal and marine ecosystems generate some of the richest biodiversity hotspots on Earth, and provide critical ecosystem services, including storm protection, fisheries production, and carbon storage, over 1 billion US dollars have been spent globally in an attempt to halt and reverse observed declines. Early conservation efforts aimed at protecting these valuable and threatened habitats focused on reducing human impacts and physical stressors. However, with habitat degradation continuing and sometimes increasing in rate, it is now clear conservation alone will not be sufficient to protect and reestablish coastal ecosystems. Habitat restoration, although in existence for many decades, has recently been elevated as a new primary strategy to stem and even reverse coastal habitat loss. The call for increasing investment in restoration efforts has emerged with significant advances in propagule rearing and dispersion of habitat-forming organisms (e.g., oysters, seagrasses, corals). In addition, restoration resources are increasingly allocated by governments and/or large corporations with the aim to, for example, fix past landscape engineering efforts that had unintended environmental consequences. Such investments are being made to (i) provide jobs for those unemployed during economic downturns, (ii) restore ecosystems destroyed by natural disasters and stressors, (iii) increase coastal defense in response to increased frequency of intense storms, and/or (iv) compensate for pollution-and development-driven habitat degradation. Conservation practitioners have traditionally been skeptical to invest heavily in restoration at large-scales because of the high cost per area (10,000-5,000,000 US$/ha for coastal vs. 500-5,000 US$/ha for terrestrial systems) to replant coastal ecosystems and/or the high chance that the restored ecosystems will not live long (e.g. outplanted corals). For restoration to be effective and employed as a primary method of coastal conservation at relevant scales, we must improve its efficiency, lower costs and rapidly share and incorporate advances. One crucial step will be to identify when and where restoration attempts have been carried out according to state-of-art ecological theory and gauge their success. Another is generating synthesis studies that focus both within and across ecosystems to identify efficiencies, adaptations and innovations. Work that shows theoretical and methodological innovations in specific ecosystems as well as across systems will be critical to pushing all fields of MER forward. Although there is rapidly increasing interest and investment, the field of marine ecosystem restoration is just beginning to undergo synthesis. Therefore, the aim of this Research Topic is to bring together research contributions to help address this synthesis need, provide a spotlight for recent innovations, enhance our understanding of successful methods in marine ecosystem restoration and promote integration of ecological, sociological and engineering theory into restoration practices.