The ecology of marine sediments : from science to management

Marine sediments provide the largest habitat on planet earth, yet knowledge of the structure and function of their flora and fauna continues to be poorly described in current textbooks. This concise, readable introduction to benthic ecology builds upon the strengths of the previous edition but has been thoroughly revised throughout to incorporate the new technologies and methods that have allowed a rapid and ongoing development of the field. It explores the relationship between community structure and function, and the selection of global examples ensures an international appeal and relevance. The economic value of marine sediments increases daily, reflected in the text with a new emphasis on pollution, climate change, conservation, and management.

Author Notes

John S. Gray was Professor of Marine Biology at the University of Oslo, Norway and did research on marine soft sediments for over 40 years. He is one of ISIs Highly-Cited Scientists in Plant and Animal Ecology. He was a member of the Norwegian Academy of Arts and Letters and a recipient of the Fridtjof Nansen prize for his research. In 2006 he was a co-recipient of the John Martin award of the American Society for Limnology and Oceanography. He did research in the Arctic, Antarctic, Great Barrier Reef, Vanuatu, Hong Kong, the East and West coasts of USA and the North Sea and Norwegian continental shelf. Sadly, John died in October 2007, just days after submitting his final manuscript.Michael Elliott is Professor of Estuarine & Coastal Sciences and the Director of the Institute of Estuarine & Coastal Studies (IECS) at the University of Hull, United Kingdom and has been researching estuarine and coastal science and management for 35 years. His research particularly relates to the influence of human activities on estuarine and marine ecology and the way in which society manages those activities. He has published widely on many aspects of these topics including the related text 'The Estuarine Ecosystem' (co-authored with Donald S McLusky). He is a Fellow of the Institute of Biology and President of the Estuarine & Coastal Sciences Association (ECSA)

A tribute to John Stuart Gray (1941-2007)	p. ix
Introduction	p. 1
1 Sampling sediments	p. 11
1.1 Sampling design	p. 11
1.2 Sampling the fauna	p. 17
2 The sediment and related environmental factors	p. 22
2.1 Grain size and related variables	p. 22
2.2 Other important environmental variables	p. 25
2.3 The fauna and environmental variables	p. 30
3 Describing assemblages of sediment-living organisms	p. 34
3.1 Abundance models	p. 34
3.2 Species occurrences	p. 38
3.3 Size and biomass spectra	p. 40
3.4 Describing faunal patterns	p. 41
3.5 Describing assemblages	p. 44
4 Diversity	p. 52
4.1 Measuring diversity	p. 52
4.2 Scale and biodiversity	p. 56
4.3 Turnover (beta) diversity	p. 57
4.4 Patterns of diversity in benthic assemblages	p. 59
4.5 Latitudinal and longitudinal gradients of diversity	p. 65
4.6 The link between species richness and system function	p. 67
5 Functional diversity of benthic assemblages	p. 70
5.1 Ecological functioning	p. 70
5.2 Secondary production in benthic macrofauna	p. 71
5.3 Production estimates in meiofauna	p. 76
5.4 Energy budgets for single species	p. 77
5.5 Elemental budgets	p. 79
5.6 Production: biomass ratios	p. 79
5.7 Community metabolism	p. 82
6 Spatial variations in sediment systems	p. 89
6.1 The importance of scale	p. 89
6.2 Measuring scale effects on sediment systems	p. 93
6.3 Biological interactions causing disturbances	p. 97
6.4 The settlement process	p. 103
6.5 Causes of change in dominance patterns	p. 105
6.6 Generalizing effects of disturbance	p. 106
7 Temporal variations in benthic assemblages	p. 109
7.1 Seasonal patterns	p. 110
7.2 Long-term patterns	p. 112
7.3 The stability of benthic communities	p. 116
8 Human impacts on soft-sediment systems-trawling and fisheries	p. 122
8.1 Ecological effects of trawling	p. 122
8.2 Common types of trawls and dredges	p. 126
8.3 Effects of gear on different sediment types	p. 126
8.4 General effects of trawling on benthic systems	p. 130
9 Human impacts on soft-sediment systems-pollution	p. 133
9.1 Effects of increased organic matter on numbers and biomass	p. 133
9.2 Effects of organic enrichment on diversity	p. 134
9.3 Effects of discharges from the oil industry	p. 136
9.4 Effects of heavy metals and xenobiotic chemicals on benthic fauna	p. 141
9.5 Adaptive strategies to pollution/disturbance	p. 144
9.6 Sediment quality standards	p. 149
9.7 Integrative benthic assessments	p. 152
9.8 Recovery of the benthic community after stress	p. 154
10 The soft-sediment benthos in the ecosystem	p. 157
10.1 Food webs, and feeding and functional groups	p. 157
10.2 Ecosystem models	p. 160
10.3 Network analysis: cycling index and average path length	p. 160
10.4 The European Regional Seas Ecosystem Model (ERSEM)	p. 164
11 The benthos in the management of marine sediments	p. 171
11.1 The use and analysis of benthic data	p. 171
11.2 The DPSIR approach-indicators and objectives	p. 174
11.3 Benthic monitoring	p. 180
11.4 The role of the benthos in a priori assessments	p. 182
11.5 The role of benthos in quality assessments	p. 186
11.6 Predictive models and marine benthic management	p. 188
11.7 Benthic analytical quality control and quality assurance (AQC/QA) and data reliability	p. 189
Concluding remarks	p. 190
References and Further Reading	p. 194
Index	p. 215

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