Georgia and the Carolinas beckon curious beachcombers with over 600 miles of wave-swept Atlantic coastline. These beaches offer more than a sandy stroll amidst stunning scenery--they are alive! As ever-changing ribbons of sand, these beaches foster unique life-forms and accept beguiling castaways from a vast marine wilderness. Mysteries abound. What is this odd creature? Why does the beach look this way? How did this strange item get here? "Living Beaches of Georgia and the Carolinas" satisfies a beachcomber's curiosity within a comprehensive yet easily browsed guide covering beach processes, plants, animals, minerals, and manmade objects. The guide is written in a familiar style and is illustrated with distribution maps and over a thousand color photos.

With simple organization, this guide tells the individual stories of 213 shelled mollusks using descriptive accounts, distribution maps, and color photographs. Accounts feature glimpses of each seashell's former life as a living creature. The organization and descriptions as well as the photographs make shell identification easy.

Sea turtles have existed for millions of years, making them fascinating subjects of study. In the last 20 years, the science of sea turtle biology has expanded at an exponential rate, leading to major advances in many areas. This book synthesizes the results of these advances and focuses on how these endangered marine reptiles operate in, adapt to, and are dependent upon particular features of their marine environment. New technology in data gathering, such as DNA analyses, remote sensing, and physiological monitoring techniques, has led to a much greater understanding of the biology of the sea turtle at all stages of their life history.
Areas of advancement discussed in The Biology of Sea Turtles include:
o Population genetics and phylogeny
o Sensory biology
o Migration and orientation hatchling behavior
o Age and growth
o Reproduction and endocrinology sex determination
o Diving physiology
o Osmoregulation
The book also addresses the endangered status of sea turtles and deals with threats to their survival posed by man-made changes to ocean and coastal zones. The first book of its kind, The Biology of Sea Turtles fills a substantial void in the literature, and will be of great value and interest to marine biologists, environmentalists, and conservationists.