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Contents:

1 - Conservation issues; 2 - Mechanisms; 3 - The coastal-realm ecosystem; 4 - Natural history of coastal-marine organisms; 5 - Chesepeake Bay: estuarine alteration and restoration; 6 - Bering Sea: marine mammals in a regional sea; 7 - The Bahamas: tropical-oceanic island nation; 8 - Coastal-real;m change; 9 - Synthesis

Review:

Coastal areas have always been favoured locations for human activity. They provided good food supply, transport and communications and often suitable locations for building. Today, the pressure on coastal areas is so great that there is a risk in them becoming degraded on a large scale. At the same time, there is a growth in studies looking at coastal areas and an increase in governance policies to manage them. If we are to take this topic seriously then the fiorst thing we need is a basic guide to the range of concepts with which we need to be familiar. This text is an attempt to provide the reader with an introductory understanding of the coastal system from which further studies could be pursued.

We start with two chapters under the heading of issues and mechanisms. The first chapter tackles the former concept. The basic assumption is that conservation is crucial and therefore we can best understand coastal areas with reference to conservation issues. Interestingly, issues are divided according to impact which gives us a three-level system. The primary issue is population dynamics. It is focussed mainly on loss of species (but could also be over abundance of species). Human action has interrupted the natural ecosystem which changes the species distribution and abumdance levels. A seondary issue would be one looking at human activities and the conflicts produced by competing interests e.g. fishing and pollution. Tertiary issues are the most difficult to define. They relate to key ecological processes such as rate of change. Given the range of examples here e.g. endocrine disruptors and algal blooms it is easy to see how this work could be considered controversial. Chapter two describes the ways in which conservation can be carried out. The fundamental aim is to get agreement on what is to be done. The most effective way is through law and it is not surprising that this chapter looks at the range of legal initiatives used to provide some measure of agreement and protection for marine resources. The strength of this chapter is provcided by the wide range of legal cases and agreements that make up our international attempts to conserve coastal areas. Section two deals with the science of the coastal-marine ecosystems. Chapter three starts with an unusual diagram whereby the oceans are subdivided into a number of ecological regions (similarly to terrestrial biomes). The reader is then taken through the key biotic and abiotic factors which define these regions. Chapter four looks in greater detail at the marine ecology side. The emphasis is on the theory of marine communities - what makes them function the way they do and the range of factors which influence this survival. Section three takes this a stagefurther and lloks at three key case studies: Chesepeake Bay, the Bering Sea and the Bahamas. Despite the diversity of examples we can compare a range of features including conservation focus, ecosystem and the primary, secondary and teriary issues that are raised by these case studies. This is a very good set of cases. Each one has a considerable amount of biotic and abiotic data (the functioning of the ecosystem). To this is added human use of the place and the problems this has created. The final aspect is to show how these places can be managed and how it might be improved. The final section has two chapters which, in their own ways, sum up the findings in the text. The first reprises human impact on coastal areas. The goal is to provide a 'healthy' ecosystem. Since 'health' is not obvious it follows that there must be a range of data to gather. The final chapter discusses how all this data can be used to create a better coastal environment. It acknowledges that conservation science and integrated coastal managment are still in their infancy but puts the case for their retention and expansion.

This book is an excellent introduction to this relatively new field. It adition to the range of chapters which covers all basic aspects each chapter also has numerous diagrams and photographs as well as text boxes each with a specific case study or topic area written by an outside author. The effect is a considerable body of knowledge well presented. The extra authors called in to write specific articles provide not only great material but also a different perspective. The sheer number and quality means that the reader gets a wide range of opinions without loosing sight of the fundamental principles put forward by the Rays. Examples are taken from around the world and this, coupled with the illustrations make the text easy to read and comprehend. Coastal pressures are not going to diminish and therefore it is important that we have the key areas of study well covered - a job this text does superbly.