Introduction
Marine Ecology is a component of Encyclopedia of Environmental and Ecological Sciences, Engineering and Technology Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias.
The ocean is the largest biome on the biosphere, and the place where life first evolved. Life in a viscous fluid, such as seawater, imposed particular constraints on the structure and functioning of ecosystems, impinging on all relevant aspects of ecology, including the spatial and time scales of variability, the dispersal of organisms, and the connectivity between populations and ecosystems. The Theme on Marine Ecology discusses matters of great relevance to our world such as: Productivity of the Oceans; Adaptations to Life in the Oceans. Pelagic Macrofauna; Marine Benthic Flora; Life in Extreme Ocean Environments; Population Dynamics of Phytoplankton; Marine Reptiles: Adaptations, Taxonomy, Distribution and Life Cycles.
This volume is aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.
Editor(s) Biography
Carlos M. Duarte (Lisbon, 1960) is Research Professor with the Instituto Mediterráneo de Estudios Avanzados (CSIC-UiB) in Esporles, Majorca, Spain, where he presently conducts research on a broad range of subjects within marine ecology, including planktonic and benthic ecology in tropical, temperate, and polar ecosystems, as well as global ecology. Dr Duarte received his Ph.D. degree, on Limnology, from McGill University (Montreal, Canada, 1987), and after a brief postdoctoral position in the University of Florida (Gainesville, Florida, USA), worked as postdoctoral fellow for two years in the Instituto de Ciencias del Mar in Barcelona (Spain), where he took a permanent position as a research scientist in 1989, to later work as a staff scientist at the Centro de Estudios Avanzados de Blanes until 1999, when he took his present position as senior scientist in Majorca. Dr Duarte’s research has particularly emphasized comparative aspects on the ecology of marine autotrophic organisms, food web processes, and ecosystem metabolism. Dr Duarte’s present research has broadly contrasting scenarios, such as the Mediterranean, the North Sea, the Norwegian Sea, South-east Asia, Australia, North America, and Antarctica. Author of over 200 scientific articles and about a dozen book chapters, and co-author of Seagrass Ecology (Cambridge University Press, 2000), Dr Duarte is now member of the editorial committee of eight international journals. Dr Duarte’s contribution to Marine Ecology was recognized by 2001’s G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award from the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography
