Ecological Processes in Coastal and Marine Systems, Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 1979 Marine Science Series, Vol. 10

This volume is based on the proceedings of a conference held at Florida State University in April, 1978. This conference was supported by the Florida State University Graduate Research Council, the Department of Biological Science (F. S. U. ), and the Center for Professional Development and Public Service. Particular recogni­ tion should be made of the efforts of Dr. Anne Thistle in the organization of the conference and the completion of this book. Julia K. White and Sheila Marrero produced the typescript. The principal objective of the conference was to assemble a group of marine scientists from diverse disciplines to discuss the state of marine ecology with particular attention to new research directions based on previous studies. Emphasis was placed on the integration of different research approaches and on the application of established procedures to various environmental problems. An effort was made to eliminate traditional disciplinary boundaries which often hinder our understanding of marine systems. There was generally wide latitude for review and speculation concerning such topics as physico-chemical processes, productivity and trophic interactions, population distribution and community structure, and natural or anthropogenic disturbance phenomena. Throughout, the usual miniaturization of the scope of discussion was subordinate to a frank appraisal of the present status of marine research. Although many introductory ecological texts stress the so­ called ecosystem approach, individual marine research projects seldom encompass this broad course. There is, in fact, a real need for system-wide studies at both the theoretical and applied levels.

I. Introduction.- Ecology: A Science and a Religion.- II. Primary Production and Export Processes.- Production and Export of Sea Grasses from a Tropical Bay.- Interactions Between Georgia Salt Marshes and Coastal Waters: A Changing Paradigm.- Ecological Considerations of Detrital Aggregates in the Salt Marsh.- Factors Controlling the Flux of Particulate Organic Carbon from Estuarine Wetlands.- III. Energy Transfer and Trophic Relationships.- Effects of Surface Composition, Water Column Chemistry, and Time of Exposure on the Composition of the Detrital Microflora and Associated Macrofauna in Apalachicola Bay, Florida.- Deposit-Feeders, Their Resources, and the Study of Resource Limitation.- Cyclic Trophic Relationships of Fishes in an Unpolluted, River-Dominated Estuary in North Florida.- Secondary Production Mechanisms of Continental Shelf Communities.- IV. Benthic Community Organization.- Perspectives of Marine Meiofaunal Ecology.- Harpacticoid Copepods and Biogenic Structures: Implications for Deep-Sea Diversity Maintenance.- Predation, Competitive Exclusion, and Diversity in the Soft-Sediment Benthic Communities of Estuaries and Lagoons.- The Community Structure of Coral-Associated Decapod Crustaceans in Variable Environments.- V. Climatological Features and Physical/Chemical Influence on Biological Systems.- Aquatic Productivity and Water Quality at the Upland-Estuary Interface in Barataria Basin, Louisiana.- Long-Term Climatological Cycles and Population Changes in a River-Dominated Estuarine System.- Climatological Control of a North Florida Coastal System and Impact Due to Upland Forestry Management.- The Pass as a Physically-Dominated, Open Ecological System.- Perturbation Analysis of the New York Bight.- Ecological Significance of Fronts in the Southeastern Bering Sea.- VI. Estuarine/Shelf Interactions.- Anaerobic Benthic Microbial Processes: Changes from the Estuary to the Continental Shelf.- The Estuary/Continental Shelf as an Interactive System.- List of Contributors and Participants.- List of Reviewers.