Coastal Ecosystem Processes [Hardcover]

Coastal Ecosystem Processes, written by the renowned marine scientist Daniel Alongi, describes how pelagic and benthic food webs, from beaches and tidal flats to the continental edge, process energy and matter. This volume focuses on recent advances and new developments on how food webs are closely intertwined with the geology, chemistry, and physics of coastal seas. Dr. Alongi presents a process-functional approach as a way of understanding how the energetics of coastal ecosystems rely not only on exchanges within and between food chains, but how such functions are influenced by terrigenous and atmospheric processes.
There is a need for documentation and an awareness of just how necessary, yet delicate, is the interplay of biological and physical forces between coastal ocean, land, and the atmosphere. Marine scientists today need to make informed management decisions about sustainable development and conservation of these fragile ecosystems. Coastal Ecosystem Processes provides present and future marine scientists the latest coastal ecosystem information to make the right decisions concerning the ecology of our oceans.Introduction
Beaches and Tidal Flats
Introduction
Food Chains, Energy, and Carbon Flow
Nitrogen Cycling
Linkages to Physical Processes
Mangroves and Salt Marshes
Introduction
Global Trends in Plant Biomass and Primary Production
Factors Limiting Plant Production and Growth
Food Webs and Decomposition Processes
Nitrogen Flow
Outwelling
Seaweed and Seagrass Ecosystems
Introduction
Standing Crop and Primary Productivity
Photosynthesis and Whole-Plant Carbon Balance
Limiting Factors
The Role of Grazers
Detritus and Mineralization Processes
Ecosystem Budgets
Carbon Balance: Export and Links to Adjacent Systems
Coral Reefs
Introduction