This book reviews the origin, development, morphology, environment and ecology of the world's coastal lagoons. There are particularly extensive series of lagoons - areas of salt or brackish water separated from the adjacent sea by a low-lying sand or shingle barrier - along the eastern and Gulf of Mexico coasts of the USA, in Mexico itself, in Brazil, West Africa, Natal, southern and eastern India, south-west and south-east Australia, Alaska, Siberia and around the shores of the Mediterranean, southern Baltic, Black and Caspian Seas. In several of these areas they support important fisheries. This book summarises what is known of the formation and fate of lagoons, the lagoonal environment, lagoonal ecology, the strategies of lagoonal species, the human use of lagoons, besides containing a general introduction and a section on methods for the study of coastal lagoons.

In origin, this book is the second edition of "Fundamentals of Aquatic Ecosystems," However, it is not simply an update, and is thoroughly modified to become a new and very different book.

The emphasis throughout is on the integration of freshwater and marine ecology leading to a balanced, comparative approach; each chapter being drafted by both a marine biologist and by a biologist concerned with inland waters. Chapters consider the various 'types' of aquatic ecosystem; water columns, coasts, deep-water zones, each discussing features common to all systems, such as primary production and nutrient cycling, so that comparisons can be drawn between systems. One chapter considers the important area of aquatic ecosystems and global ecology, discussing topics such as global nutrient fluxes and interactions between aquatic and terrestrial systems. Later chapters look at the individuals and communities in aquatic environments; covering community organization, reproduction and life histories, speciation and biogeography, and specialist aquatic feeding mechanisms. The peculiar habitats of reefs and then streams and rivers are discussed, and the book closes with a review of the impact of man's activities on aquatic ecosystems, including pollution, exploitation for food and conservation.

This book provides an invaluable new approach for students taking courses in all areas of aquatic biology.

"Of the first edition: "
"No better introductory survey of these highly significant aspects of modern biology could be desired." Nature

Such is the pressure on teaching time in schools and universities that students are taught less and less of the diversity that is life on this planet. Most students, and indeed most professional biologists that these students become, know far more of cell function than of biodiversity. This text is a profusely illustrated, quick-reference guide to all types of living organisms, from the single-celled prokaryotes and eurkaryotes to the multicellular fungi, plants and animals. All surviving phyla and their component classes are characterised and described, as are their lifestyles, ecology, relationships, and within-group diversity (with orders displayed in list form). Overall, the book's aim is to provide biologists and others with a clear, concise picture of the nature of all groups of organisms with which they may be unfamiliar.

Most undergraduate texts in invertebrate zoology (of which there are many) fall into one of two categories. They either offer a systematic treatment of groups of animals phylum by phylum, or adopt a functional approach to the various anatomical and physiological systems of the better known species. The Invertebrates is the first and only textbook to integrate both approaches, describing the range and diversity of invertebrates and the way they work, thus meeting the modern teaching needs of the subject.

This new edition has been completely revised and updated. The molecular systematics sections have been rewritten and the book now has a strong evolutionary theme throughout, which reflects the importance of molecular techniques.

The first part of the book describes all the known phyla of invertebrates with living representatives, together with their component classes. Rather than outline all the anatomical features of different types of animals, the book distills those essential characteristics of each group with which the student should be familiar. Lists of diagnostic features permit comparison between the phyla; the diversity of body plans illustrated by line figures of different forms.

The second part concentrates on the unifying features of invertebrate functional anatomy, physiology and behavior, describing how the invertebrates display a range of solutions to the problems of living and reproduction. Throughout, form and function are presented from an evolutionary viewpoint, in the light of the selective pressures that have influenced and continue to mold invertebrates biology.

Nature of the first edition:
'Students will like this book. It deserves tosucceed.'