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Marine Macroecology

Pioneered in the late 1980s, the concept of macroecology—a framework for studying ecological communities with a focus on patterns and processes—revolutionized the field. Although this approach has been applied mainly to terrestrial ecosystems, there is increasing interest in quantifying macroecological patterns in the sea and understanding the processes that generate them. Taking stock of the current work in the field and advocating a research agenda for the decades ahead, Marine Macroecology draws together insights and approaches from a diverse group of scientists to show how marine ecology can benefit from the adoption of macroecological approaches.

Divided into three parts, Marine Macroecology first provides an overview of marine diversity patterns and offers case studies of specific habitats and taxonomic groups. In the second part, contributors focus on process-based explanations for marine ecological patterns. The third part presents new approaches to understanding processes driving the macroecolgical patterns in the sea. Uniting unique insights from different perspectives with the common goal of identifying and understanding large-scale biodiversity patterns, Marine Macroecology will inspire the next wave of marine ecologists to approach their research from a macroecological perspective.

Reviews

“This book is a wonderful tour de force introduction to marine macroecology through environments and across taxa. It is aimed at students and established ecologists, and it should strongly remind us that small-scale experimental ecology is not the only way to do sound ecological science.”

Martin Zuschin, University of Vienna | Marine Ecology

Table of Contents

Introduction

JON D. WITMAN AND KAUSTUV ROY

PART I: MACROECOLOGICAL PATTERNS IN THE SEA

1 Overview of Marine Biodiversity

JAMES W. VALENTINE

2 Plankton Populations and Communities

WILLIAM K . W. LI

3 Patterns in Deep- Sea Macroecology

CRAIG R. MCCLAIN, MICHAEL A . REX, AND RON J. ETTER

4 Spatial Patterns of Species Diversity in the Shallow Marine Invertebrates: Patterns, Processes, and Prospects

KAUSTUV ROY AND JON D. WITMAN

5 Macroecological Patterns among Marine Fishes

ENRIQUE MACPHERSON, PHILIP A . HASTINGS, AND D. ROSS ROBERTSON

6 Marine Algal Communities

BERNABÉ SANTELICES, JOHN J. BOLTON, AND ISABEL MENESES

PART II: PROCESSES UNDERLYING MACROECOLOGICAL PATTERNS

7 Plankton—Not So Paradoxical After All

SEAN NEE AND GRAHAM STONE

8 Basin- Scale Oceanographic Infl uences on Marine Macroecological Patterns

JAMES J. LEICHTER AND JON D. WITMAN

9 Dispersal and Geographic Ranges in the Sea

STEVEN D. GAINES, SARAH E. LESTER, GINNY ECKERT, BRIAN P. KINLAN, RAFE SAGARIN, AND BRIAN GAYLORD

10 Temperature and Marine Macroecology

ANDREW CLARKE

11 Macroecological Theory and the Analysis of Species Richness Gradients

SEAN R. CONNOLLY

12 Macroecological Changes in Exploited Marine Systems

DEREK P. TITTENSOR, BORIS WORM, AND RANSOM A . MYERS

PART III: EXPERIMENTAL APPROACHES TO MARINE MACROECOLOGY

13 Experimental Marine Macroecology: Progress and Prospects

JON D. WITMAN AND KAUSTUV ROY

14 Latitudinal Gradients in Species Interactions

ERIC SANFORD AND MARK D. BERTNESS

15 The Subtidal Ecology of Rocky Coasts: Local- Regional-Biogeographic Patterns and Their Experimental Analysis

SEAN D. CONNELL AND ANDREW D. IRVING

Contributors

Index

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