Biodiversity in the Marine Environment

Philippe Goulletquer, PhD in biological oceanography, is in charge of issues of marine and coastal biodiversity at Ifremer. He is a member of the scientific council on Natural heritage & biodiversity.Philippe Gros, a highly qualified professor of biological sciences at the École normale supérieure, joined Ifremer in 1984. He was director of Living resources there.Gilles Boeuf, holding a PhD in developmental biology, is a professor at Pierre & Marie Curie university and President of the National museum of natural history (MNHN).Jacques Weber, an economist and anthropologist, research director at the Cirad, lecturer at the École des hautes études and Pierre & Marie Curie university, is vice-chairman of the French committee for Man and biosphere.

• Acknowledgements.- Foreword.- Introduction.- The importance of marine biodiversity.- Key features.- Hierarchical components.- The impacts of human activities on marine biodiversity.- The strategic values of research.- Status and trends.- How many marine species are there?.- Taxonomic records.- Cryptic species.- The DNA barcode.- The drive to identify new species.- The "taxonomic impediment".- Species under pressure.- Extinct species.- Endangered species.- Ecosystems under pressure: the deep sea.- Spatial patterning of characteristics.- Temporal patterns.- Conceptualising biodiversity.- Conceptual frameworks for relationships between biodiversity and human societies.- Choice of model framework.- Measuring biodiversity.- Biodiversity as a macroscopic descriptor in the European Union Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).- Drivers of changes in biodiversity and its uses.- Environmental drivers: a working framework.- Integrated scenarios and policies.- Policies and decision support.- Developing scenarios.- Quantitative methods, models and integrated assessment.- Research needs.- The framework: environmental research.- Naturalistic dimensions.- Human dimensions of research.- Developing modelling: a summarising approach.- Sources.- References.- Databases.- Abbreviations and acronyms.- Group of experts.

From the book reviews: "This excellent review, translated from French, extends beyond the general subject of biodiversity to encompass a wealth of information that will be valuable for managing and conserving living marine resources. ... this concise, well-written book will be useful as a textbook and as a reference work on marine biodiversity. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals/practitioners." (J. C. Briggs, Choice, Vol. 52 (1), September, 2014)