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The proliferation of harmful phytoplankton in marine ecosystems can cause massive fish kills, contaminate seafood with toxins, impact local and regional economies and dramatically affect ecological balance. Real-time observations are essential for effective short-term operational forecasting, but observation and modelling systems are still being developed. This volume provides guidance for developing real-time and near real-time sensing systems for observing and predicting plankton dynamics, including harmful algal blooms, in coastal waters. The underlying theory is explained and current trends in research and monitoring are discussed.Topics covered include: coastal ecosystems and dynamics of harmful algal blooms; theory and practical applications of in situ and remotely sensed optical detection of microalgal distributions and composition; theory and practical applications of in situ biological and chemical sensors for targeted species and toxin detection; integrated observing systems and platforms for detection; diagnostic and predictive modelling of ecosystems and harmful algal blooms, including data assimilation techniques; observational needs for the public and government; and future directions for research and operations.

This is the first report of the Circumpolar Biodiversity Monitoring Program (CBMP) to summarize status and trends in biotic elements in the arctic marine environment. The effort has identified knowledge gaps in circumpolar biodiversity monitoring. CBMP is the cornerstone program of Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (CAFF).

The Mediterranean, Black, and Caspian Seas, the rivers and canals that connect them, and the enormous volume of shipping in the region, represent a conduit for aquatic invasion, whose consequences are only now beginning to be understood. This book provides an up-to-date overview of jelly invasions in the Ponto-Caspian which have affected local ecosystems since the early 1980s, contrasting that with other biological invasions, in search of underlying principles.

This important new book by Colin Reynolds covers the adaptations, physiology and population dynamics of phytoplankton communities. It provides basic information on composition, morphology and physiology of the main phyletic groups represented in marine and freshwater systems and in addition reviews recent advances in community ecology.

It is clear that a new type of human approach to marine ecosystems is needed to confront phenomena such as jellyfish blooms. This document provides an updated overview of this phenomenon in the Mediterranean and Black Sea and illustrates how the problem is affecting societies. It reviews current knowledge on gelatinous plankton in the affected region, providing a framework for its inclusion into fisheries science and the management of human activities such as tourism and coastal development. Fact sheets on the most important gelatinous plankters of the Mediterranean and Black Seas are included as an appendix.