Contents
Preface
xi
Acknowledgments
xv
1 Toward an Ecological Geography of the Sea
1
The Progressive Exploration of Oceanic and Shelf Ecosystems
2
The Availability of Timely Global Oceanographic Data
from Satellites
5
Internal Dynamics of Satellite-Observed Algal Blooms
11
Our New Understanding of the Role of Very Small Organisms
14
2 Biogeographic Partition of the Ocean
19
Taxonomic Diversity: The Shifting Baseline of Biogeography
20
The Useful Results from 150 Years of Marine Biogeography
24
Biogeographic Regions of the Pelagos
25
Geographic Component of Benthic–Pelagic Coupling
28
From Pristine to Modified Ecosystems
31
3 Fronts and Pycnoclines: Ecological Discontinuities
35
Fronts and Frontal Systems
36
Oceanic Fronts and Eddy Streets
36
Shelf-Edge and Upwelling Fronts
39
Tidal Fronts and River Plumes of the Shelf Seas
41
The Ubiquitous “Horizontal Front” at the Shallow Pycnocline
43
4 Physical Control of Ecological Processes
51
Ecological Consequences of Mesoscale Eddies and Planetary
Waves
53
Stratification and Irradiance: The Consequences of Latitude
55
Regional and Latitudinal Resistance to Mixing in the Open
Oceans
58
Rule-Based Models of Ecological Response to External Forcing
62
Case 1—Polar Irradiance-Mediated Production Peak
64
Case 2—Nutrient-Limited Spring Production Peak
64
Case 3—Winter-Spring Production with Nutrient
Limitation
65
vii