Biology of Soft Shores and Estuaries

Aiming to fill a gap in the literature for a text on estuarine biology which also deals with marine soft shores, this is an addition to the "Biology of Habitats" series. Complementing "The Biology of Rocky Shores", by the same author, the book focuses on marine and estuarine soft sediments as complex and essential habitats for an astonishing variety of animals and plants whose lifestyles are intimately bound up with sediment structure. It discusses sediments as habitats first, then takes in turn the ecosystems found on sandy shores, mudflats and seagrass beds, salt marshes and mangrove swamps, and life below the tidemarks. Adaptations of the organisms are fully described, and each chapter ends with a section on techniques. Later chapters discuss estuarine and lagoonal habitats, both of which contain primarily soft sediments, but add further complicating characteristics to those found in the sea. A discussion of estuarine food webs emphasizes the ways in which organisms interact.Table of Content1: Introduction: organisms, sediments, and water movements; 2: The world of particles: a variety of habitats; 3: The coarse extreme: life on sandy beaches; 4: A fine option: life on mudflats and in seagrass beds; 5: Salt marshes and mangrove swamps; 6: Life at the bottom: sublittoral sediments and community structure; 7: Estuarine habitats and coastal lagoons; 8: The estuarine benthos and its distribution; 9: Life in the estuarine water column; 10: Estuarine ecosystems; 11: Uses and abuses: human impact and counter-measures.