Technological improvements have greatly increased the ability of marine scientists to collect and analyze data over large spatial scales, and the resultant insights attainable from interpreting those data vastly increase understanding of poplation dynamics, evolution and biogeography. Marine Metapopulations provides a synthesis of existing information and understanding, and frames the most important future directions and issues. - First book to systematically apply metapopulation theory directly to marine systems - Contributions from leading international ecologists and fisheries biologists - Perspectives on a broad array of marine organisms and ecosystems, from coastal estuaries to shallow reefs to deep-sea hydrothermal vents - Critical science for improved management of marine resources - Paves the way for future research on large-scale spatial ecology of marine systems

A synthetic treatment of all marine fish taxa (teleosts and elasmobranchs), this book employs explanatory frameworks from avian and systems ecology while arguing that migrations are emergent phenomena, structured through schooling, phenotypic plasticity, and other collective agencies. The book provides overviews of the following concepts: The comparative movement ecology of fishes and birds; The alignment of mating systems with larval dispersal; Schooling and migration as adaptations to marine food webs; Natal homing; Connectivity in populations and metapopulations; The contribution of migration ecology to population resilience

A comprehensive introduction to ocean ecology and a new way of thinking about ocean life Marine ecology is more interdisciplinary, broader in scope, and more intimately linked to human activities than ever before. Ocean Ecology provides advanced undergraduates, graduate students, and practitioners with an integrated approach to marine ecology that reflects these new scientific realities, and prepares students for the challenges of studying and managing the ocean as a complex adaptive system. This authoritative and accessible textbook advances a framework based on interactions among four major features of marine ecosystems—geomorphology, the abiotic environment, biodiversity, and biogeochemistry—and shows how life is a driver of environmental conditions and dynamics. Ocean Ecology explains the ecological processes that link organismal to ecosystem scales and that shape the major types of ocean ecosystems, historically and in today's Anthropocene world. Provides an integrated new approach to understanding and managing the ocean Shows how biological diversity is the heart of functioning ecosystems Spans genes to earth systems, surface to seafloor, and estuary to ocean gyre Links species composition, trait distribution, and other ecological structures to the functioning of ecosystems Explains how fishing, fossil fuel combustion, industrial fertilizer use, and other human impacts are transforming the Anthropocene ocean An essential textbook for students and an invaluable resource for practitioners

No realm on Earth elicits thoughts of paradise more than the tropics. The tropical marine realm is special in myriad ways and for many reasons from seas of higher latitude, in housing iconic habitats such as coral reefs, snow white beaches, crystal clear waters, mangrove forests, extensive and rich seagrass meadows and expansive river deltas, such as the exemplar, the Amazon. But the tropics also has an even more complex side: tropical waters give rise to cyclones, hurricanes and typhoons, and unique oceanographic phenomena including the El Niño- Southern Oscillation which affects global climate patterns. Tropical Marine Ecology documents the structure and function of tropical marine populations, communities, and ecosystems in relation to environmental factors including climate patterns and climate change, and patterns of oceanographic phenomena such as tides and currents and major oceanographic features, as well as chemical and geological drivers. The book focuses on estuarine, coastal, continental shelf and open ocean ecosystems. The first part of the book deals with the climate, physics, geology, and chemistry of the tropical marine environment. The second section focuses on the origins, diversity, biogeography, and the structure and distribution of tropical biota. The third part explores the rates and patterns of primary and secondary production, and their drivers, and the characteristics of pelagic and benthic food webs. The fourth part examines how humans are altering tropical ecosystems via unsustainable fisheries, the decline and loss of habitat and fragmentation, Further, pollution is altering an earth already in the throes of climate change. Tropical Marine Ecology is an authoritative and comprehensive introduction to tropical marine ecology for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students. It is also a rich resource and reference work for researchers and professional managers in marine science.

All six species of sea turtles found in U.S. waters are listed as endangered or threatened, but the exact population sizes of these species are unknown due to a lack of key information regarding birth and survival rates. The U.S. Endangered Species Act prohibits the hunting of sea turtles and reduces incidental losses from activities such as shrimp trawling and development on beaches used for nesting. However, current monitoring does not provide enough information on sea turtle populations to evaluate the effectiveness of these protective measures. Sea Turtle Status and Trends reviews current methods for assessing sea turtle populations and finds that although counts of sea turtles are essential, more detailed information on sea turtle biology, such as survival rates and breeding patterns, is needed to predict and understand changes in populations in order to develop successful management and conservation plans.

Metapopulation Dynamics: Empirical and Theoretical Investigations covers the 1989 proceedings of a metapopulation dynamics workshop held at Lammi Biological Station, Helsinki, Finland. It is divided into 18 chapters that cover various approaches to spatially structured population and community dynamics. After briefly discussing the history of metapopulation ideas and the major conceptual links, the book covers types of studies that have been conducted on single-species and multispecies metapopulations. Then, it examines the relationships between metapopulation dynamics, the equilibrium theory of island biogeography, and the dynamics of populations living in patchy environments. It further tackles practical issues and the links between metapopulation dynamics and landscape ecology, and between metapopulation dynamics and conservation biology. Chapters 4 and 5 present structured models describing changes in the number of individuals within patches and an empirical evaluation of local extinction in metapopulation studies. The subsequent chapters discuss several aspects of metapopulation, including dispersal and connectivity, colonization, conspecific attraction, extinction and isolation, and forest fragmentation. The latter chapters describe the concept of habitat fragmentation, the diversity and competition in metapopulations, the community collapse, and the effects of metapopulation studies in predator-prey systems.

Whether through loss of habitat or cascading community effects, diseases can shape the very nature of the marine environment. Despite their significant impacts, studies of marine diseases have tended to lag behind their terrestrial equivalents, particularly with regards to their ecological effects. However, in recent decades global research focused on marine disease ecology has expanded at an accelerating rate. This is due in part to increases in disease emergence across many taxa, but can also be attributed to a broader realization that the parasites responsible for disease are themselves important members of marine communities. Understanding their ecological relationships with the environment and their hosts is critical to understanding, conserving, and managing natural and exploited populations, communities, and ecosystems. Courses on marine disease ecology are now starting to emerge and this first textbook in the field will be ideally placed to serve them. Marine Disease Ecology is suitable for graduate students and researchers in the fields of marine disease ecology, aquaculture, fisheries, veterinary science, evolution and conservation. It will also be of relevance and use to a broader interdisciplinary audience of government agencies, NGOs, and marine resource managers.