This book describes critical environmental issues that face coastal ocean and Great Lakes areas, including eutrophication, habitat modification, hydrologic and hydrodynamic disruption, exploitation of resources, toxic effects on ecosystems and humans, introduction of nonindigenous species, global climate change and variability, and shoreline erosion and hazardous storms. These issues can be approached through science activities (including research, monitoring, and modeling) discussed in this book and through coordination among federal agencies.
Estuarine and coastal waters are acknowledged points of anthropogenic impact. For practitioners, academics and students in the field of coastal science and policy, this book examines and exemplifies current and future challenges: from upper estuaries to open coasts and adjacent seas; from tropical to temperate latitudes; from Europe to Australia.
This volume deals with problems related to monitoring, analysis and modelling of coastal regions, including sea, land and air phenomena. Bringing together papers presented at the Sixth International Conference on Environmental Problems in Coastal Regions, the book focuses on ecological and environmental problems and the issues of water quality. The book will be essential to researchers, engineers and professionals involved in the field of Coastal Environmental quality and the related challenges to monitoring and controlling Oil Spills. Topics of interest include: Remote Sensing; Ecology and the Coastal Environment; Water Quality Issues; Wetlands; Sediment Problems; Coastal Restoration; Atmospheric Aspects; Sea States Forecasting; Modelling of Trajectory and Fate of Spills; Bioremediation; Detection, Prevention and Clean-up Measures; Erosion Problems; Management of Risk; Preservation of Pristine Coastal Areas; Estuarial Problems; Floods; Climate Change and the Coastal Environment.
Living Shorelines: The Science and Management of Nature-based Coastal Protection compiles, synthesizes and interprets the current state of the knowledge on the science and practice of nature-based shoreline protection. This book will serve as a valuable reference to guide scientists, students, managers, planners, regulators, environmental and engineering consultants, and others engaged in the design and implementation of living shorelines. This volume provides a background and history of living shorelines, understandings on management, policy, and project designs, technical synthesis of the science related to living shorelines including insights from new studies, and the identification of research needs, lessons learned, and perspectives on future guidance. Makes recommendations on the correct usage of the term living shorelines Offers guidance for shoreline management in the future Includes lessons learned from the practice of shoreline restoration/conservation Synthesizes regional perspectives to identify strategies for the successful design and implementation of living shorelines Reviews specific design criteria for successful implementation of living shorelines Provides detailed discussions of social, regulatory, scientific and technical considerations to justify and design living shoreline projects International perspectives are presented from leading researchers and managers in the East, West and Gulf coasts of the United States, Europe, Canada, and Australia that are working on natural approaches to shoreline management. The broad geographic scope and interdisciplinary nature of contributing authors will help to facilitate dialogue and transfer knowledge among different disciplines and across different regions. This book provides coastal communities with the scientific foundation and practical guidance necessary to implement effective shoreline management that enhances ecosystem services and coastal resilience now and into the future.
Coastal Management: Global Challenges and Innovations focuses on the resulting problems faced by coastal areas in developing countries with a goal of helping create updated management and tactical approaches for researchers, field practitioners, planners and policymakers. This book gathers, compiles and interprets recent developments, starting from paleo-coastal climatic conditions, to current climatic conditions that influence coastal resources. Chapters included cover almost all aspects of coastal area management, including sustainability, coastal communities, hazards, ocean currents and environmental monitoring. - Contains contributions from a global pool of authors with a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines, making this an authoritative and compelling reference - Presents the appropriate tools used in monitoring and controlling coastal management, including innovative approaches towards community participation and the implementation of bottom-up tactics - Includes case studies from across the world, allowing for a thorough comparison of situations in both developing and developed countries
Conventional management approaches cannot meet the challenges faced by ocean and coastal ecosystems today. Consequently, national and international bodies have called for a shift toward more comprehensive ecosystem-based marine management. Synthesizing a vast amount of current knowledge, Ecosystem-Based Management for the Oceans is a comprehensive guide to utilizing this promising new approach. At its core, ecosystem-based management (EBM) is about acknowledging connections. Instead of focusing on the impacts of single activities on the delivery of individual ecosystem services, EBM focuses on the array of services that we receive from marine systems, the interactive and cumulative effects of multiple human activities on these coupled ecological and social systems, and the importance of working towards common goals across sectors. Ecosystem-Based Management for the Oceans provides a conceptual framework for students and professionals who want to understand and utilize this powerful approach. And it employs case studies that draw on the experiences of EBM practitioners to demonstrate how EBM principles can be applied to real-world problems. The book emphasizes the importance of understanding the factors that contribute to social and ecological resilience —the extent to which a system can maintain its structure, function, and identity in the face of disturbance. Utilizing the resilience framework, professionals can better predict how systems will respond to a variety of disturbances, as well as to a range of management alternatives. Ecosystem-Based Management for the Oceans presents the latest science of resilience, while it provides tools for the design and implementation of responsive EBM solutions.
Report summarizes and interprets workshop discussions focusing on three areas: Feedback between ecological systems and global change; Consequences of global change for ecological systems; Sustaining and improving ecological systems in the face of global change.
Close to one-half of all Americans live in coastal counties. The resulting flood of wastewater, stormwater, and pollutants discharged into coastal waters is a major concern. This book offers a well-delineated approach to integrated coastal management beginning with wastewater and stormwater control. The committee presents an overview of current management practices and problems. The core of the volume is a detailed model for integrated coastal management, offering basic principles and methods, a direction for moving from general concerns to day-to-day activities, specific steps from goal setting through monitoring performance, and a base of scientific and technical information. Success stories from the Chesapeake and Santa Monica bays are included. The volume discusses potential barriers to integrated coastal management and how they may be overcome and suggests steps for introducing this concept into current programs and legislation. This practical volume will be important to anyone concerned about management of coastal waters: policymakers, resource and municipal managers, environmental professionals, concerned community groups, and researchers, as well as faculty and students in environmental studies.
"Rapid population growth in the southeastern coastal zone has had an important influence on both resource management policy at the federal, state, regional, and local levels and the findings of environmental impact studies." These twenty-six papers represent a variety of disciplines and such topics as "policy in its broadest sense, environmental resources, and population trends."--Jacket.
Seascape Ecology provides a comprehensive look at the state-of-the-science in the application of landscape ecology to the seas and provides guidance for future research priorities. The first book devoted exclusively to this rapidly emerging and increasingly important discipline, it is comprised of contributions from researchers at the forefront of seascape ecology working around the world. It presents the principles, concepts, methodology, and techniques informing seascape ecology and reports on the latest developments in the application of the approach to marine ecology and management. A growing number of marine scientists, geographers, and marine managers are asking questions about the marine environment that are best addressed with a landscape ecology perspective. Seascape Ecology represents the first serious effort to fill the gap in the literature on the subject. Key topics and features of interest include: The origins and history of seascape ecology and various approaches to spatial patterning in the sea The links between seascape patterns and ecological processes, with special attention paid to the roles played by seagrasses and salt marshes and animal movements through seascapes Human influences on seascape ecology—includes models for assessing human-seascape interactions A special epilogue in which three eminent scientists who have been instrumental in shaping the course of landscape ecology offer their insights and perspectives Seascape Ecology is a must-read for researchers and professionals in an array of disciplines, including marine biology, environmental science, geosciences, marine and coastal management, and environmental protection. It is also an excellent supplementary text for university courses in those fields.
