The Biology of Soft Shores and Estuaries. 2000. (Biology of Habitats Series). illus. 264 p. gr8vo. Paper bd.

This book focuses on marine and estuarine soft sediments as complex andessential habitats for an astonishing variety of animals and plants whose lifestyles are intimately bound up with sediment structure. Itdiscusses sediments as habitats first, then takes in turn the ecosystemsfound on sandy shores, mudflats and seagrass beds, salt marshes andmangrove swamps, and life below the tidemarks. Adaptations of theorganisms are fully described, and each chapter ends with a section ontechniques. Later chapters discuss estuarine and lagoonal habitats, bothof which contain primarily soft sediments, but add further complicatingcharacteristics to those found in the sea. A discussion of estuarinefood webs emphasizes the ways in which organisms interact. The book endswith a discussion of the ways in which marine and estuarine soft sediments have been abused by man, and some of the opportunities thathave been taken to counteract these abuses.