Marine Mammals

• A) Introduction: life History & Ecology.- 1. Life history strategies of marine mammals.- 2. How persistent are marine mammal habitats in an ocean of variability?.- 3. Ecological aspects of reproduction of marine mammals.- B) Sensory Systems and Behaviour.- 4. Sound and cetaceans.- 5. Behavioural ecology of cetaceans.- 6. New perspectives on the behavioural ecology of pinnipeds.- C) Survey and Study Techniques.- 7. Assessment of marine mammal population size and status.- 8. Acoustic techniques for studying cetaceans.- 9. Applications of molecular data in cetacean taxonomy and population genetics with special emphasis on defining species boundaries in cetaceans..- D) Health, Parasites and Pathogens.- 10. Marine mammal health: Holding the balance in an ever-changing sea.- 11. Living together: The parasites of marine mammals.- 12. Marine mammal mass mortalities.- E) Conservation & Management.- 13. Interactions between aquatic mammals and humans in the context of ecosystem management.- 14. Environmentalists, fishermen, cetaceans and fish: Is there a balance and can science help to find it?.- 15. Organohalogenated contaminants in marine mammals.- 16. Cetaceans and humans: influences of noise.- 17. Global climate change and marine mammals.- Systematic list of marine Mammals.

From the reviews: 'This book is simply an outstanding read regarding the evolution, ecology, behaviour, health, and conservation of marine mammalsI highly recommend this book to graduate students.' Douglas P. DeMaster, National Marine Fisheries Service, Seattle, WA 'If you are interested in marine mammals this book will certainly be a very useful addition to your library.' Helene Marsh, James Cook University, Queensland, Australia 'The book is generally of a high editorial standard. I intend to recommend the book as background reading for my course and to use some chapters as the basis for restructuring some of my lectures. For example, I was particularly impressed by Martin Hall and Greg Donovan's chapter entitled "Environmentalists, fisherman, cetaceans and fish: [ If you are interested in marine mammals this book will certainly be a very useful addition to your library.' Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, August (2002) "This text is aimed primarily at advanced undergraduate and graduate students studying marine mammal science. The focus is on evolution, ecology, behavior, and marine mammal health and conservation, with an emphasis on the applied aspects of research. This makes the book valuable for those working on the conversation problems facing marine mammals. ... this book is an excellent resource for marine mammal specialists." (Northeastern Naturalist, Vol. 12 (4), 2005)