Ecology of marine bivalves : an ecosystem approach /

This book presents the first synthesis of marine bivalve ecology from an ecosystem or holistic view. The phylosophy of the ecosystem approach is introduced and used as a template for the book. The concepts of the physical environment, organismic, and population processes are presented as foundations...

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Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Dame, Richard F. (Author)
Format:	Book
Language:	English
Published:	Boca Raton : CRC Press, [1996], ©1996.
Series:	Marine science series.
Subjects:	Bivalves > Ecology. Marine invertebrates > Ecology. Bivalves. Marine invertebrates.
Summary:	This book presents the first synthesis of marine bivalve ecology from an ecosystem or holistic view. The phylosophy of the ecosystem approach is introduced and used as a template for the book. The concepts of the physical environment, organismic, and population processes are presented as foundations to understanding the later chapters on ecosystem processes. Ecosystem processes including grazing, system metabolism, and nutrient cycling in systems that are dominated by marine bivalves are concisely reviewed and a general conceptualization is developed. The utilization of ecosystem experiments in bivalve dominated systems is presented from the perspective of computer simulations, mesocosm studies and field manipulation experiments. The emerging field of ecosystem health is described from a bivalve viewpoint. Finally, the roles of marine bivalves as keystone species and ecosystem engineers are demonstrated with a discussion of interesting and pressing research issues.