Changing Land Use Patterns in the Coastal Zone : Managing Environmental Quality in Rapidly Developing Regions

Coastal ecosystems attract intense interest from scientists and land managers because they are found in many of our most prized, and most endangered, regions.

This book is written by and for scientists but also for anyone who influences the management and policy in coastal regions. Each chapter presents an issue important to these systems, giving first a nontechnical summary of the issue and review of the current state of the knowledge, followed by data and a more detailed discussion. While many of the case studies are drawn from long term studies in the southeast United States, the examples and lessons are relevant for ecologists, planners, resource managers, policymakers, and others working in all coastal environments. The contributors provide multidisciplinary guidance to the assessment and management of environmental impacts caused by development.

Coastal ecosystems make up some of the most important, yet most endangered, regions in the world. The protection of the unique processes that take place in these ecosystems requires that partnerships be formed among ecologists, resource managers, and planners.

Experienced in the challenges of coastal system analysis, the contributors to this book provide multidisciplinary guidance on the assessment and management of environmental impacts caused by development. Each chapter examines an issue important to these fragile ecosystems, first presenting a non-technical summary of the issue and a review of the current state of the knowledge, then following with data and a more detailed consideration of the topic. Functioning both as a practical guide, accessible to nonscientists, and as a rigorous scientific source book, Changing Land Use Patterns in the Coastal Zone will be useful to ecologists, urban and regional planners, resource managers, policymakers and students. While many of the case studies included in this volume are drawn from studies in the southeastern United States, the examples and lessons provided will be relevant to those working in all coastal environments.

About the Editors:

G. S. Kleppel is Professor and Director of the Biodiversity, Conservation and Policy Program at the State University of New York at Albany. M. Richard DeVoe is Executive Director of the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium in Charleston, South Carolina. Mac V. Rawson, Jr. is Director of the Georgia Sea Grant Program at the University of Georgia, Athens.