Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs
Encyclopedia of Modern Coral Reefs

Author: David Hopley

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2010-11-26

Total Pages: 1226

ISBN-13: 904812638X

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Coral reefs are the largest landforms built by plants and animals. Their study therefore incorporates a wide range of disciplines. This encyclopedia approaches coral reefs from an earth science perspective, concentrating especially on modern reefs. Currently coral reefs are under high stress, most prominently from climate change with changes to water temperature, sea level and ocean acidification particularly damaging. Modern reefs have evolved through the massive environmental changes of the Quaternary with long periods of exposure during glacially lowered sea level periods and short periods of interglacial growth. The entries in this encyclopedia condense the large amount of work carried out since Charles Darwin first attempted to understand reef evolution. Leading authorities from many countries have contributed to the entries covering areas of geology, geography and ecology, providing comprehensive access to the most up-to-date research on the structure, form and processes operating on Quaternary coral reefs.

Cool-water Carbonates
Cool-water Carbonates

Author: H. M. Pedley

Publisher: Geological Society of London

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 392

ISBN-13: 9781862391932

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During the past decade, work on cool-water carbonates has expanded to become a mainstream research area. Studies on modern and Quaternary deposits will continue to be important; however, there is increasing momentum towards unravelling sediment processes, biota-sediment interactions and diagenetic products in Cenozoic and older cool-water carbonates. Many contributions in this book document Cenozoic and Quaternary carbonates from landlocked (microtidal) water-bodies. These carbonates display important differences in biota and fabric distributions when compared with world ocean examples. Consequently, the scientific community is now better placed to reinterpret pre-Tertiary carbonates where there is a suspicion that they have developed under microtidal conditions. Some papers in the book provide new approaches to interpreting environmental change within macrotidal regimes and others lay firm foundations for future cool-water carbonate diagenetic research. The aim of the book is to illustrate recent international contributions to cool-water carbonates research, with an emphasis on Neogene and Recent case studies. Contributions are divided into three sections: microtidal carbonates from the Mediterranean realm; macrotidal examples from New Zealand, Australia and Mexico; and early diagenetic fabrics.

Biodiversity Loss in a Changing Planet
Biodiversity Loss in a Changing Planet

Author: Oscar Grillo

Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand

Published: 2011-11-16

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 9533077077

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Every ecosystem is a complex organization of carefully mixed life forms; a dynamic and particularly sensible system. Consequently, their progressive decline may accelerate climate change and vice versa, influencing flora and fauna composition and distribution, resulting in the loss of biodiversity. Climate changes effects are the principal topics of this volume. Written by internationally renowned contributors, Biodiversity loss in a changing planet offers attractive study cases focused on biodiversity evaluations and provisions in several different ecosystems, analysing the current life condition of many life forms, and covering very different biogeographic zones of the planet.

Rhodolith/Maërl Beds: A Global Perspective
Rhodolith/Maërl Beds: A Global Perspective

Author: Rafael Riosmena-Rodríguez

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-10-07

Total Pages: 362

ISBN-13: 331929315X

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Rhodolith beds are recognized internationally as a unique ecosystem, and they are the focus of this interdisciplinary book. These marine beds occur worldwide, from the tropics to the poles, ranging in depth from intertidal to deep subtidal habitats and they are also represented in extensive fossil deposits. In the light of international interest in rhodoliths and maerl concerning their role in coastal ecosystems and with respect to biodiversity, fisheries, and the production of sediment, this book provides the most comprehensive view possible. As readers will discover, rhodoliths/maerl are fundamental to a range of ecological processes, acting as ecosystem engineers including playing key roles in recruitment and providing nursery habitats. Rhodoliths/maerl have been used commercially in some parts of the world, and they are understood to be vulnerable to coastal modifications and human-induced change, and hence their status may serve as an indicator of ecosystem health. Rhodoliths/maerl contribute to global carbon budgets although the extent remains to be evaluated, as do the potential impacts of changing global climates and ocean acidification.

From Greenhouse to Icehouse
From Greenhouse to Icehouse

Author: Donald R. Prothero

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 558

ISBN-13: 0231127162

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The marine Eocene-Oligocene transition of 34 million years ago was a critical turning point in Earth's climatic history, when the warm, high-diversity "greenhouse" world of the early Eocene ceded to the glacial, "icehouse" conditions of the early Oligocene. This book surveys the advances in stratigraphic and paleontological research and isotopic analysis made since 1989 in regard to marine deposits around the world. In particular, it summarizes the high-resolution details of the so-called doubthouse interval (roughly 45 to 34 million years ago), which is critical to testing climatic and evolutionary hypotheses about the Eocene deterioration. The authors' goals are to discuss the latest information concerning climatic and oceanographic change associated with this transition and to examine geographic and taxonomic patterns in biotic turnover that provide clues about where, when, and how fast these environmental changes happened. They address a range of topics, including the tectonic and paleogeographic setting of the Paleogene; specific issues related to the stratigraphy of shelf deposits; advances in recognizing and correlating boundary sections; trends in the expression of climate change; and patterns of faunal and floral turnover. In the process, they produce a valuable synthesis of patterns of change by latitude and environment.

Gulf of Mexico Origin, Waters, and Biota
Gulf of Mexico Origin, Waters, and Biota

Author: Darryl L. Felder

Publisher: Texas A&M University Press

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 1405

ISBN-13: 1603442693

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This landmark scientific reference for scientists, researchers, and students of marine biology tackles the monumental task of taking a complete biodiversity inventory of the Gulf of Mexico with full biotic and biogeographic information. Presenting a comprehensive summary of knowledge of Gulf biota through 2004, the book includes seventy-seven chapters, which list more than fifteen thousand species in thirty-eight phyla or divisions and were written by 138 authors from seventy-one institutions in fourteen countries.This first volume of Gulf of Mexico Origin, Waters, and Biota, a multivolumed set edited by John W. Tunnell Jr., Darryl L. Felder, and Sylvia A. Earle, provides information on each species' habitat, biology, and geographic range, along with full references and a narrative introduction to the group, which opens each chapter.

Calcareous Algae and Stromatolites
Calcareous Algae and Stromatolites

Author: Robert Riding

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 576

ISBN-13: 3642523358

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This volume provides a comprehensive overview of calcareous algae and stromatolites. It contains reviews by leading specialists of major groups, together with accounts of floras through time. It deals with marine and non-marine, benthic and planktic, and modern as well as ancient examples. As the first multi-authored review of the field ever published in English, it is an essential reference text for this complex field. It is designed for both postgraduate researchers and professional scientists who require up-to-date and authoritative information on these long-ranging organisms and fabrics which are of wide evolutionary, environmental and sedimentary significance.