Treatise on Estuarine and Coastal Science

Treatise on Estuarine and Coastal Science, Four Volume Set is the most up-to-date reference work for system based coastal and estuarine ecosystem science and management. It addresses the big issues facing the estuaries and coastal zone; in particular how to best use multi- and inter-disciplinary science to ensure the sustainability of the environment. It focusses on the need to protect and maintain the natural functioning of the estuaries and coasts worldwide while delivering the ecosystem services from which society extract goods and benefits. Structured chapters, written by leaders in the field, include reference lists and additional reading, copious diagrams, case-studies, and especially provide synthesis diagrams and conceptual models of complex issues. The Treatise covers both the natural and social sciences, serving a wide audience which ranges from undergraduate students to established researchers and practitioners. The work avoids autecological studies but focusses on inter-linked physical-chemical-biological-ecosystem processes and associated socio-economic issues in the coastal zone. It examines estuaries and coasts, and their interactions and feedbacks with humanity, from the inland catchment/river basin to the ocean shelf. The new edition builds on and expands the previous version with significant updates and a whole new section on Climate Change and Coastal Ecosystems, covering the resistance and resilience of the estuaries, coasts and other transitional habitats to climate change, thereby determining changes and responses needed over the coming decades.