Coral Reefs of the Gulf: Adaptation to Climatic Extremes is a complete review and reference for scientists, engineers and students concerned with the geology, biology or engineering aspects of coral reefs in the Middle East. It provides for the first time a complete review of both the geology and biology of all extant coral areas in the Gulf, the water body between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. In summer, this area is the hottest sea with abundant coral growth on earth and already today exhibits a temperature that is predicted to occur across the topical ocean in 2100. Thus, by studying the Gulf today, much can be learned about tomorrow’s world and the capability of coral reefs to adapt to climatic extremes. This volume provides the most authoritative and up-to-date review of the coral reefs in the Gulf. It can be used as a volume of general reference or as a textbook treating recent coral reefs. Written by local and international experts, the text is richly illustrated and will remain a standard reference for the region for decades to come. Contributions stretch from climatology through geology, biology, ecological modelling and fisheries science to practical conservation aspects. The book is useful for the technical expert and casual reader alike.

Just one hundred and ten miles south of the Texas-Louisiana border, beneath the waters of the Gulf of Mexico, lie two coral reefs, together called the Flower Garden Banks. This coral community, the northernmost reef system in the United States and a national marine sanctuary, is home to hundreds of kinds of fish and other tropical sea life. Manta rays and turtles visit regularly, as do whale sharks and schools of hammerhead sharks. Other wonders include the annual mass coral spawns and a briny depression called Gollum Lake. Nearby are two other reefs. Stetson Bank, its top spotted with hard corals, mollusks, and sponges, is known for its diversity—from black sea hares to golden smooth trunkfish. At Geyer Bank, thousands of butterfly fish dominate a huge population of tropical fish whose density rivals that of the coral reefs in the South Pacific. Protruding from the flat, muddy continental shelf, these and thirty other natural reefs support an exceptional amount and variety of sea life in Texas waters. They sit amid hundreds of oil and gas platforms, which create their own special reef ecosystems. These reefs, equal in their profusion of life and color to the storied reefs of Florida and Hawaii, have not been widely known to Texans outside of a small group of scientists and divers. With extraordinary photographs and a knowledgeable first-person narrative, author Jesse Cancelmo instills an appreciation for the beauty and fragility of one of the state’s least-known natural environments. Texas Coral Reefs will inspire adventurers—both the underwater and armchair varieties—to enjoy these spectacular but little-known sites that lie so close to home.

Deep-water coral reefs are found along large sections of the outer continental shelves and slopes of Europe, from North Cape to the Gulf of Cadiz, and because they also occur along the Atlantic seaboard of USA, the Gulf of Mexico, off Brazil, in the Mediterranean, and off New Zealand, they are currently being targeted by international groups of marine scientists. They have become popular and opportune deep-water research targets because they offer exciting frontier exploration, combined with a whole plethora of modern scientific methods, such as deep-sea drilling, sampling, remote control surveying and documentation. Furthermore they represent timely opportunities for further developments within the application of geochemistry, stable isotope research, bacterial sciences, including DNA-sequestering, and medical research (search for bioactive compounds). The Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) has arranged a deep-sea scientific drilling campaign on giant carbonate banks off Ireland. Because the reefs currently defy traditional marine-ecological theories, they represent future research opportunities and will enjoy scientific scrutiny for many years to come.

Coral reefs are among Earth's most diverse, productive, and beautiful ecosystems, but until recently, their ecology and the means to manage them have been poorly understood and documented. In response to the inadequate information base for coral reefs, this book reviews the ecological and conservation status of coral reefs of the Western Indian Ocean, bringing together presentations of the region's leading scientists and managers working on coral reefs. Coral Reefs of the Indian Ocean: Their Ecology and Conservation starts with a general overview of the biogeography of the region and a historical account of attempts to conserve this ecosystem. It goes on to describe the state of the reefs in each of the countries with coral reefs, and it concludes with a series of management case studies. The book also summarizes most of the existing ecological information on reefs in this region and efforts at management, making it useful for students, teachers, and investigators interested in tropical or marine ecology, conservation biology and management, and environmental sciences.

Coral reefs are the largest landforms built by plants and animals. Their study therefore incorporates a wide range of disciplines. This encyclopedia approaches coral reefs from an earth science perspective, concentrating especially on modern reefs. Currently coral reefs are under high stress, most prominently from climate change with changes to water temperature, sea level and ocean acidification particularly damaging. Modern reefs have evolved through the massive environmental changes of the Quaternary with long periods of exposure during glacially lowered sea level periods and short periods of interglacial growth. The entries in this encyclopedia condense the large amount of work carried out since Charles Darwin first attempted to understand reef evolution. Leading authorities from many countries have contributed to the entries covering areas of geology, geography and ecology, providing comprehensive access to the most up-to-date research on the structure, form and processes operating on Quaternary coral reefs.

Coral reefs are an important tourism resource for many coastal and island destinations and generate a range of benefits to their local communities, including as a food source, income from tourism, employment and recreational opportunities. However, coral reefs are under increasing threat from climate change and related impacts such as coral bleaching and ocean acidification. Other anthropogenic stresses include over-fishing, anchor damage, coastal development, agricultural run-off, sedimentation and coral mining. This book adopts a multidisciplinary approach to review these issues as they relate to the sustainable management of coral reef tourism destinations. It incorporates coral reef science, management, conservation and tourism perspectives and takes a global perspective of coral reef tourism issues covering many of the world’s most significant coral reef destinations. These include the Great Barrier Reef and Ningaloo Reef in Australia, the Red Sea, Pacific Islands, South East Asia, the Maldives, the Caribbean islands, Florida Keys and Brazil. Specific issues addressed include climate change, pollution threats, fishing, island tourism, scuba diving, marine wildlife, governance, sustainability, conservation and community resilience. The book also issues a call for more thoughtful development of coral reef experiences where the ecological needs of coral reefs are placed ahead of the economic desires of the tourism industry.

This volume is a complete review and reference work for scientists, engineers, and students concerned with coral reefs in the Red Sea. It provides an up-to-date review on the geology, ecology, and physiology of coral reef ecosystems in the Red Sea, including data from most recent molecular studies. The Red Sea harbours a set of unique ecological characteristics, such as high temperature, high alkalinity, and high salinity, in a quasi-isolated environment. This makes it a perfect laboratory to study and understand adaptation in regard to the impact of climate change on marine ecosystems. This book can be used as a general reference, guide, or textbook.

This book documents and examines the state of health of coral reefs in the eastern tropical Pacific region. It touches on the occurrence of coral reefs in the waters of surrounding countries, and it explores their biogeography, biodiversity and condition relative to the El Niño southern oscillation and human impacts. Additionally contained within is a field that presents information on many of the species presented in the preceding chapters.

Cold-water coral ecosystems figure the formation of large seabed structures such as reefs and giant carbonate mounds; they represent unexplored paleo-environmental archives of earth history. Like their tropical cousins, cold-water coral ecosystems harbour rich species diversity. For this volume, key institutions in cold-water coral research have contributed 62 state-of-the-art articles on topics from geology and oceanography to biology and conservation, with some impressive underwater images.