Tropical waters and their living resources

Management and conservation of aquatic ecosystems require in-depth knowledge and understanding of the ecosystem functions, of the approaches for resource assessment and management and of the socioeconomic context, within which resource user’s act. Our book wants to help the reader navigating through these complex issues by combining and integrating the knowledge of the different research disciplines involved. The nine book chapters cover fundamentals of ecology, the description of aquatic ecosystems, a review of aquatic resources and their use, threats, modeling tools, approaches for coastal planning, the law of the sea, as well as principles of biostatistics and guidelines on how to communicate science. The book is meant as a “back ground reader” for students and professionals working in the field of tropical coastal research and management. It is the result of 10 years experience with an ongoing international Master of Science Programme named ISATEC (International Studies in Aquatic Tropical Ecology). This programme is coordinated by the Center for Tropical Marine Ecology (ZMT) and is being conducted jointly with the University of Bremen and many partners abroad.