Coastal-Marine Conservation (PDF)

Coastal-Marine Conservation: Science and Policy introduces students
and managers to complex conservation and management issues facing
coastal nations of the world, their citizens, and international and
non-governmental organizations. It aims to reduce complexity and
inspire a greater consensus for more effective conservation
action.

* * Presents the coastal realm as a heterogeneous, diverse
ecosystem of exceptionall high biological diversity and
productivity, and where conservation challenges are most difficult
and urgent

* Examines the critical issues facing coastal-marine conservation
and the mechanisms for dealing with them

* Reviews the basic science required for addressing conservation
issues by presenting the coastal realm as a land-sea ecosystem of
global significance, and by reviewing the natural-history features
of coastal-marine organisms

* Presents three ecologically and latitudinally distinct
"real-world" case studies to create a context for understanding of
regional systems, their cultures, and their conservation: the polar
Bering Sea, the temperate Chesapeake Bay, and the tropical
Bahamas

* Makes apparent the ecological stresses on the coastal realm,
increasing rates of ecosystem change, loss of ecosystem health, and
fragmented governance

* Synthesizes the major challenges for conservation and suggests
future policy and management strategies, including ecosystem
management and needs for achieving sustainability and addressing
the environmental debt

This book is intended for undergraduates and graduates taking
courses in coastal and marine conservation and management, as well
as those actively engaged in coastal-marine conservation
activities, and gives the reader a clear steer to future management
approaches.

References additional to those in the book are available at
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/pdf/ray_references.pdf

The artwork is available to download at
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/ray/