Ecological Geography of the Sea

This book presents an in-depth discussion of the biological and ecological geography of the oceans. It synthesizes locally restricted studies of the ocean to generate a global geography for the vast marine world.
Ecological Geography of the Sea is the first comprehensive attempt to divide the ocean into distinguishable regions that permit detailed comparisons. Based on patterns of algal ecology, the book divides the ocean into four primary compartments, which are then subdivided into secondary compartments. The secondary compartments are identified and characterized by biogeochemical features including nutrient dynamics, continental shelf topography, and algal blooms. Because ocean-wide regional classification has broad impact on the way oceanographers and ecologists study ocean patterns, this book will have wide and long-term appeal.

Key Features
* Divides the ocean into distinguishable regions that permit detailed comparisons
* Synthesizes locally restricted studies of the ocean to generate a global geography for the vast marine world
* Appeals to a wide cross-section of marine biologists interested in the geography of the oceans

After 4 years of war service and after graduating from the University of London in 1952, Alan Longhurst subsequently studied the ecology of benthic communities and demersal fish off tropical West Africa and New Zealand, and the ecology of oceanic zooplankton in the eastern tropical Pacific, the north Atlantic and the arctic archipelago of Canada. He has held both research and administrative posts in several laboratories and has had many less formal occupations, such as coordinating the EASTROPAC surveys or acting as Secretary, SCOR. He has published widely in the field of benthic and pelagic ecology, and concerning the ecological basis of fisheries. He is now retired and spends much of year in SW France, where he assists his wife in running a gallery of contemporary art, keeping a sharp eye out for oceanographers among their clients.