This is the first comprehensive science-based textbook on the biology and ecology of the Baltic Sea, one of the world's largest brackish water bodies. The aim of this book is to provide students and other readers with knowledge about the conditions for life in brackish water, the functioning of the Baltic Sea ecosystem and its environmental problems and management. It highlights biological variation along the unique environmental gradients of the brackish Baltic Sea Area (the Baltic Sea, Belt Sea and Kattegat), especially those in salinity and climate. pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"; color:#262626">The first part of the book presents the challenges for life processes and ecosystem dynamics that result from the Baltic Sea's highly variable recent geological history and geographical isolation. The second part explains interactions between organisms and their environment, including biogeochemical cycles, patterns of biodiversity, genetic diversity and evolution, biological invasions and physiological adaptations. In the third part, the subsystems of the Baltic Sea ecosystem - the pelagic zone, the sea ice, the deep soft sea beds, the phytobenthic zone, the sandy coasts, and estuaries and coastal lagoons - are treated in detail with respect to the structure and function of communities and habitats and consequences of natural and anthropogenic constraints, such as climate change, discharges of nutrients and hazardous substances. Finally, the fourth part of the book discusses monitoring and ecosystem-based management to deal with contemporary and emerging threats to the ecosystem's health.

This book gives an overall analysis of the current knowledge status about structures, functions, utilization for German Baltic coast ecosystems. The main focus of this book is on the aquatic area, but land/sea interactions as well as river outfalls are included as well. Characteristic for this book is the inclusion of social science aspects. Approximately one third of its extent will be about the ecosystem services. In this segment the results of the last 6 years are presented in which a comprehensive quantification of the social relevance of ecosystems was carried out covering the entire area of the German Baltic Sea. This part builds directly on the results of scientific investigations and are in relation to social ideals. The assessment will not only be economically and ethically but also the mechanisms that are used for the valorisation of the ecosystem services will be evaluated. Both sub-areas, the classic natural science part as well as the part of social science aspects, deal with the changes caused by increasing anthropogenic influence and social (including demographic) changes. This will be among others in the sense of an exemplary historical outline. The final chapter of the synthesis therefore not only presents a summary of the level of knowledge gained and a deduction of the research needs. It further contains a presentation of the application aspects resulting from the analysis of the social relevance gained from basic scientific research. The book is aimed at scientists (and students) of natural, life and social sciences, analysing functioning and structures of coastal ecosystems with regard to sustainable use and nature protection, including aspects of coastal protection. Besides, it is thought to become a reference for all levels of decision makers and stakeholders in coastal and marine management of the Baltic and North Sea region, providing also a blueprint for system analysis respecting for societal as well as biological aspects world-wide.