Echinoderms, including feather stars, seastars, brittle stars, sea urchins and sea cucumbers, are some of the most beautiful and interesting animals in the sea. They play an important ecological role and several species of sea urchins and sea cucumbers form the basis of important fisheries. Over 1000 species live in Australian waters, from the shoreline to the depths of the abyssal plain and the tropics to Antarctic waters. Australian Echinoderms is an authoritative account of Australia’s 110 families of echinoderms. It brings together in a single volume comprehensive information on the identification, biology, evolution, ecology and management of these animals for the first time. Richly illustrated with beautiful photographs and written in an accessible style, Australian Echinoderms suits the needs of marine enthusiasts, academics and fisheries managers both in Australia and other geographical areas where echinoderms are studied.
The geological record contains a fascinating diversity of reefs and shell accumulations. As with many other biosedimentary structures, their facies characterization requires careful observation at outcrop and sample scale, and in thin-section to provide information about the global geometries, fabrics and textures respectively. This collection of papers encompasses the breadth of sedimentary geometries and facies displayed by Palaeozoic reefs, shell accumulations, and transitional composite deposits. The definition of reefs and shell concentrations has given rise to variations in nomenclature. The papers in this volume cover specific problems regarding the nomenclature and facies characterization of reefs, shell accumulations and transitional composite deposits. However, rather than attempt a complete revision of terms, the authors have touched on some of the important issues at this stage of development in the field: the main climatic, environmental and evolutionary factors that controlled the Palaeozoic development of shell accumulations and reefs.