Product Description
Focusing on key behavioural aspects of reproduction, territoriality, swimming and eating habits, this text provides insights into the lives of dozens of common fish species which inhabit the unique ecosystem of the coral reef. The authors also address the misconceptions surrounding sharks. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Beyond the colors... what fish do and why
New snorkelers are very movement sensitive.They are looking for things moving on the reef.The more colorful, the better.

After you get past this stage, you start asking questions.Why do some fish have a false "eyespot" and others do not?Why do some fish, well, swim like a fish, while others swim like a box of matches with wings?Why do parrrotfishspend so much time biting a nutrient-poor reef.Why not go after real prey?

These types of questions are answered in this book.Written from the perspectives of ecology and behavior (with the emphasis on behavioral ecology), the Wilsons put together a readable and accurate (to the standards of the literature in the mid 1980s) work on fish behavior.Fish are so much more deserving than simply lumping them into taxonomic groupings.This book helps you get to that next level, the "why" stage.

Interested in tropical marine fishes?
This book is outstanding on so many levels... It has a basic intro to coral reef biology and to the fishes.It then goes on to discus the various aspect of fish life.Eating, breeding, various interactions are all covered.Look for the parts on schooling and social life of coral reef fishes. etc... The authors manage to bring a large body of scientific reference material together and make it accessible to anyone interested in coral reef fishes.

If you are a diver or snorkeler then you will enjoy this wealth of information that will go along way to describe the intricate behaviors in this most complicated of habitats.If you are a reef aquarium hobbyist the you will learn why fish act the way they do.If you are a professional then you will appreciate the way that this book brings in the journal literature.There are 19 pages of bibliography, and although it might be a bit dated many of the articles are classics.

Going Beyond Identification
After I'd dived and snorkeled in the same spot more than a few times, I found myself wondering: what are those fish doing? Why are there such huge differences in what I see at 7AM from what I see at 5PM? Are those fish mating or fighting? While this book only begins to answer those questions--I'd love to see a newer edition with research since the early 90's--it does tell the careful observer what to look for, which adds greatly to the experience of diving and snorkeling. A caveat, however: if you don't already know the major fish families (such as parrotfish, surgeonfish, wrasses, butterflyfish, and so on), you'll find the book somewhat incomprehensible. I'd label this book as Step 2 in becoming a knowledgeable observer, with Step 1 as learning the fish families. (And for that, I'd get a regional guide for wherever you dive--the fish families are the same world-wide, although the species are not.) Note: while I criticize this book for being (slightly) out of date, that doesn't make the information useless--far from it.

A fascinating book about reef fish behavior for the layman.
We run charter yachts and take our guests snorkeling on reefs daily.I borrowed this book over 10 years ago, and still remember how incredibly interesting it was, not only for our own understanding of the ecosystem weenjoy so much, but also for the great information it gives us to share withour guests who are eager to learn about the beautiful reefs and thecolorful fish they see.As another reviewer said, we can now go beyondjust naming the fish we see and provide a broader explanation of theircharacteristics and behaviour. I'm thrilled to see the book back in print.

an invaluable volume for tropical divers and photographers
I agree with the previous reviewers--an invaluable, scholarly, and readable work that discusses such interesting but poorly understood subjects such as why tropical fish tend to be brightly colored, how schooling fish swim in close coordination, and whether anemones benefit from their relationship with anemone fish.It's a shame that tropical dive operations haven't made this required reading for their dive students. ... Read more

Product Description
Ages 5 to 9 years. This book takes readers on an exciting underwater journey to one of the world's most fascinating habitats. Stunning photographs and detailed illustrations help show: the relationships between the plants, herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores that live in and around the reef; the dangers to these fragile habitats; why coral reefs are described as the rainforests of the sea. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (4)

Excellent introduction to the wonderful, vibrant world of the coral reef
Young children ages 4-8 (the target audience) will enjoy this book about the life that inhabits the reef - the colorful and unique inhabitants such as parrotfish, wrasses, cod, anemone, clownfish, sponge, turtle, ray, remoras, sharks, and eels. The cumulative text by author Madeleine Dunphy is engaging and makes for an interesting and fun reading experience - young children will enjoy this as a read aloud activity whilst intermediate readers will find this an interesting yet not overly challenging read. My five-and-a-half-year old enjoyed reading this and we made a game of trying to identify the different sea creatures portrayed within (she loved that her favorite, the clownfish, were prominently portrayed in here!).

The vivid, full-color illustrations by illustrator Tom Leonard enhance the text and make this an engaging book. The "Here Is" series by Madeleine Dunphy is educational, fun, and engaging for young children and will enhance any public/school/home library as an educational resource. The glossary at the end of the book also provides useful information.

Here is the Coral Reef
Purchased this to replace the one we lost from the public library.Kids liked it and it helped them learn the reef life. Mom went a little crazy with all the repetition.

Here is the Perfect Kids' Book Series!
Not only does my niece love this book, I'm quite fond of the series, too!The illustrations are detailed and painstakingly accurate, but the real treasure is Dunphy's language.The motif may seem simple, but it activelytunes in a child's curiosity, making her or him eager to turn the page andsee what's next.

Excellent for teaching about ecological systems, fun!
I really enjoy Madeleine Dunphy's "Here is the Coral Reef," as I do all ofher other "Here is..." books (rainforest, arctic winter, southwestern desert, and wetlands). "Here is the CoralReef" provides parents a fun, colorful medium for teaching childrenabout the coral reef ecosystem.The cumulative verse format is an elegantway to teach about the interconnections between all life.Theillustrations are gloriously bright, with just enough action to keep thekids going, but nothing gory.The story grows incrementally with eachpage, tracing the unseen threads of biological systems, and culminating ina montage of its reef-dwelling characters. Kids seem to like therepetition...but any parent knows how much children enjoy repeating theirfavorite stories, songs or videos over and over and over!I would highlyrecommend this subtle yet effective book for parents and educators (*****). ... Read more

Product Description

Some coral is extremely hard—with a skeleton made of stone.

Customer Reviews (1)

Extremely Cool!
Reviewed by Madeline (age 7.5) and Sophia (age 5.5) McElroy for Reader Views (2/09)

The pictures in this book are extremely cool! We learned a lot about coral and the ocean. Everyday we read two facts and we looked at our world map to see where these coral reefs were located in the world. This was a fun way to learn about coral. Our favorite disgusting fact we learned was about the Parrot Fish. He eats the coral; his body digests it and out comes sand! Parrot fish are responsible for most of the sandy beaches! It was really cool and weird to see the scuba divers using notepads underwater! "Extreme Coral Reef!" by Melissa Stewart is a great book for any age kids and grown-ups.
... Read more

Product Description
Luminescent illustrations accompany solid explorations of the different worlds and environments of coral reefs. ... Read more

Product Description
Marine biologists believe coral reefs existed 400 million years ago, when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Today this active environment is home to about 20,000 kinds of brilliantly coloured corals, plants, and animals-more sea creatures than are found anywhere else in the world. The Great Barrier Reef in Australia is so large that astronauts can see it from outer space! But what is life like in a coral reef? What do corals eat? Why are corals more colourful at nighttime? Children will enjoy Gibbon's informative text and clear, detailed illustrations on this journey into the unique lives of coral reefs. ... Read more

Product Description
530 classic photographs of living specimens and the most current scientific classifications help identify virtually every species of stony coral, gorgonian, fire coral and black coral in the tropical western Atlantic. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Great Reference Book
All the info you need to know.Well organized.Great pictures.
Easy to use.

KWJuls
This is an excellent book/series for anyone who snorkels or dives the Keys and wants to put the correct names with the critters out there.I've had the other two books in the series, "Reef Fish" and "Reef Creatures" for years.I finally purchased the coral book to complete the series.

Great Field Guide for Reef Corals
Another in the same series as the Reef Creatures book, it shares the same strengths and minor drawbacks. See the review of that book for more details.
This book also covers algae found on reefs and nearby flats.

Great book
I used the book in Bonaire last week.Reading up on coral ahead of time - made me look at the reefs in a whole new way.The book is not as interesting as the book on fish behavior - however, it is informative and worth the read.

reef coral review
this book is a must have for all snorkelers and divers. i gave it as a gift and the recipient was thrilled. ... Read more

Product Description
"I have used this book for identifying fishes I have seen underwater. It is one of the best for this purpose since it is handy and comprehensive, containing all likely coral reef fishes in the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific. Most other books contain only a subset. In addition, this guide provides clues for quick and proper identification."--Rainer Froese, Senior Scientist, International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARM), Philippines

This is a handy guide to all fishes that are likely to be observed by anybody visiting or diving on the coral reefs of the Indo-Pacific and the western Atlantic Oceans to a depth of sixty meters. Accessible to amateur marine life enthusiasts, this book is the first comprehensive guide of its kind. It enables the reader quickly to identify 2,074 species of fish and includes over 2,500 color illustrations depicting the major forms of each species--male, female, immature, or geographical varieties.

Here coral reef is used broadly to include areas adjacent to reefs where corals may occur, such as harbors, bays, and rocky tidepools as well as reef-associated habitats such as seagrass beds, sandy expanses, and open rocky bottoms. The text begins with a valuable introduction to such topics as the coral reef environment, habitats, ecology, social interactions, conservation, and dangerous marine fishes. Of particular interest is a section offering pointers on identifying fish. The text proceeds according to region, depicting each species and its varieties, and offering information on its geographic range and where on the coral reef itself the fish may be found. Important identification characteristics are highlighted on every color plate.Amazon.com Review
If you're a scuba-diving or tropical-fish enthusiast, you'llwant this well-illustrated, comprehensive guide to the reef fishes ofthe Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific, where creatures withlime skeletons form giant underwater structures. No coral reef isquite like the next, but most abound in life. Ewald Lieske and RobertMyers catalog 2,074 fish species, each with a color plate,description, and notes on range and ecology. Bigeyes, snooks,stargazers, sweetlips: the names are a song, and this compendium makesa wonderful symphony.END ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

compact and comprehensive - a fish book for travelers
Robert F. Myers is a noted authority on reef fishes and author of the widely acclaimed book Micronesian Reef Fishes. Unlike that large, detailed and excellent volume, however, this book has small, color drawings instead of photographs. This allows the color plates to depict many similar-looking fishes on a single page, just as bird ID books do. Key markings on the fish are indicated unobtrusively with lines. The page opposite contains ID notes that correspond to the drawings. I think the drawings are adequate for most identification purposes and I find the "many fishes on one page" scheme helpful, although some other readers obviously disagree. But what makes this book a winner is that it combines comprehensiveness with small size. It describes an amazing 2000 species, all in a small, lightweight, easily carried, easily packed paperback. In short, it's perfect for taking along on a dive trip. The big, detailed fish books are great, of course, but too heavy to travel with. Use this book in the field, then look up further information in the big books when you get back home.

Pretty good,but not the best
This book covers more species than any other in my collection of good fish books,about 30 ones!That`s why I'll give it three stars. The illustrations are beautifull but if you wish to identify real fishes,this isn`t right book for you. It covers both Indo-Pacific and Caribbean and it describes 2000 species and about 1500 are from Indo-Pacific. That`s what good with it. It is also enjoyable to read,as you can learn a lot but I would appreciate a photo book about the area better,because then the fish looks like as you see it in the natural habitat. But if you like to draw coral reef fishes,I can recommend you to look at the pictures of this book. Real photographs are sometimes too detailed. And I think the sharks section should be bigger. There are about 400 species of sharks,and only 3 color plates are about sharks with a total number of may be 40 species!That`s not enough. But the angelfish chapters are absoulutley detailed. But if you wish to have a really good book,I would recommend "Reef Fish Identification" for the Caribbean and "South East Asia Tropical Fish Guide" for the Pacific.

Illustration Only
Its a great book for an entire collection, but hard to identify real species from the book. It is a list of all the species with fair illustrations and short description of each. Not what I expected. Probablygood for Marine Bio.

Most useful book I ever bought!
I am an avid scuba diver and recreational fisherman. This book is a tremendously useful book for identification of ocean fish.The book not only has detailed colored drawings of fish, but also includes adescription, habitat, feeding habits, and possible dangers.I highlyrecommend this book to any diving or fishing enthusiasts.

Most useful book I ever bought!
I am an avid scuba diver and recreational fisherman. This book is a tremendously useful book for identification of ocean fish.The book not only has detailed colored drawings of fish, but also includes adescription, habitat, feeding habits, an dpossible dangers.I highlyrecommend this book to any diving or fishing enthusiasts. ... Read more

Product Description
Expanded and updated to include an additional 44 species, this is a handy guide to those fishes that are likely to be observed by anybody visiting or diving on the coral reefs of the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, and the Pacific to a depth of sixty meters. Accessible to amateur marine life enthusiasts, this book is the first comprehensive guide of its kind. It enables the reader to quickly identify 2,118 species of fish and includes over 2,500 color illustrations depicting the major forms of each species--male, female, immature, or geographical varieties. The text proceeds according to region, depicting each species and its varieties, and offering information on its geographic range and where on the coral reef itself the fish may be found. Important identification characteristics are highlighted on every color plate. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Illustrations different from reality
This guide has the merit to include a really big number of reef fishes species, but I discovered that many fishes have different colors in the field, often too much different than in the illustrations of the book ... The guide can be valid when you can take pictures in water and then, calmly at home, you can looking for features highlighted in the book, often little evident in field.

Great informative book on tropical fishes
I bought this book since I am a volunteer at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta, Georgia. This book is a tremendous resouce especially in the Tropical Diver Exhibit which has many species of tropical fish. It is helpful in identification and lists the fish by scientific as well as common names. I would highly recommend this guide for fish identification, and many of the volunteers use this guide as their resource as well.

nice for divers
I bought the book because i need the names of the fishes in the caribbean, where i dive now, and i thinks that it is a very nice book, very usefull and with a low price.

THE field guide to bring on a scuba trip
An amazingly well done flied guide useful for even advanced fish enthusiasts and scuba divers. I have used this book on dive trips to the Egyptian red sea, the sea of Cortez in Mexico and to Cuba, as well as while walking trough several aquariums in the US, and I have hardly ever failed to find a tropical fish species I observed in this book. The illustrations are well done and include juveniles, sex differences and regional color variants. In addition to the geographic range of a species, the likely occurrence on the reef (lagoon, outward reef, sand ...), the depth ranges and information about fish behavior are indicated. I have found this additional information extremely useful, especially when trying to identify one of several similar species.

The book is divided into a Indopacific and a Carribean part, and in addition to the species descriptions there is a short general introduction to corral reefs and fish biology.

a little treasure
this one is a real must. if I had to choose a single fish ID book to bring along in a dive trip, this handy book would be the one. it is probably more usefull for indo-pacific fishes but also atlantic/caribbean fishes part is pretty good. i guess it is the most complete book on fish identification i ever bought. ... Read more

Product Description
"There is a word for what Darwin and the rest of us have felt when in the presence of the reef: 'awe.' Confronted with the reef, awe is the most appropriate response. It is probably in our nature. It is also, apparently, in our nature to destroy that which we hold in awe." —from The Enchanted Braid

Of the myriad ecosystems populating the underwater world, coral reefs are by far the most complex. While their stunning beauty has been extolled for centuries, the intricate workings of reef environments remained largely hidden from view. In fact, until the advent of scuba diving just fifty years ago, corals have been among the last natural histories to be extensively explored. The high passion with which scientists have greeted this particular investigation —beginning with the foundational theories of Charles Darwin in 1842—is perhaps unprecedented, but hardly difficult to understand. A phenomenon of both awesome beauty and vital importance, the coral reef is home to the most diverse range of species of any environment on the planet, including fish, shrimps, worms, snails, crabs, sea cucumbers, sea stars, urchins, anemones, and sea squirts.

The crux of reef life, scientists have discovered, lies in nature's most intimate example of symbiosis: the mutually beneficial relationship between the coral polyp and its "tenant," the zooxanthellate algae. Davidson's history begins with this deceptively diminutive hybrid, the engine behind the construction of the limestone-based coral structure. Together, the three elements comprise a unique zoophytalite (animal-plant-mineral) form, or an "enchanted braid."

Aided by an eight-page, full-color photographic insert demonstrating the incredible intricacies of the reef and its unique inhabitants, The Enchanted Braid identifies the approximately 240,000 square miles of coral reef on the planet today as indispensable not only to the livelihood of the oceans but also to humans. The reef is, after all, the "soul of the sea," the spawning ground for tens of thousands of marine species. As sources of food (many islands rely on reefs for all their protein), medicine (corals are used in bone grafts and to fight cancer and leukemia), and detailed insight into the history of climatic conditions, coral reefs are critically important to human life on Earth. However, in a world of oil tanker disasters, global warming, and dwindling natural resources, they are also in grave danger of extinction.

Osha Gray Davidson's urgent clarion call to halt today's man-made degradation of coral reefs is both alarming and persuasive, effectively underscored by the rich historical context of passages from Darwin's captivating diary of his seminal work on reefs 150 years ago. Like the coral reef, The Enchanted Braid is itself a rare hybrid, a graceful combination of aesthetic appreciation, scientific inquiry, and environmental manifesto.Amazon.com Review
In this work of scientific journalism, Osha Gray Davidsonsurveys the condition of the world's great coral-reef systems, whichoffer habitat to countless diverse species of marine life. Many ofthose systems are now threatened by development--some, ironically, bythe construction of resorts for the ecotourism market. Others havebeen destroyed by the fishing industry's use of dynamite and cyanideto bring in catches. Some 10 percent of the world's reefs, we learn inDavidson's pages, are already damaged beyond recovery, and another 30percent are in grave danger of joining them. Combining firsthandtravel narrative with abundant documentary research, Davidson makes agood case for the importance of conserving the reefs thatremain. --Gregory McNamee ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Great book for a layman!
Although I've been an avid scuba diver for twenty years, I've never really studied the scientific aspects of the coral reefs that I dive on. I hoped that this book would be a good introduction to coral reefs without getting too bogged down in textbook-level details, and it was all that I hoped for and more. The author, Osha Gray Davidson, knows his subject, and he knows how to write. Even though I have dived many coral reefs, I learned a lot of fascinating details about how coral reefs are built, how they reproduce, and how they are sustained. There are also many fascinating tidbits about the behaviors of reef fish and reef invertebrates.

The first half of The Enchanted Braid is about coral reefs and how they work.The second half is about the current state of coral reefs and the many threats to their continued existence. It gets pretty gloomy, reading about the worldwide decline of reefs and how much humans have contributed to this decline. There are some hopeful notes, but overall it's pretty depressing, which is probably the message that we need to hear if anything is to be done to preserve these magnificent creations.

A superb book for anyone who has an interest in coral reefs or oceanology but doesn't want to wade through a college textbook.

Every marine life and coral lover should read this book
I rarely read nonfiction in bed because I fall asleep too quickly. Not so with this book. Davidson's writing is compulsively compelling. Though the book details the disturbing trends affecting the health of coral reefs worldwide, it also offers hope by describing in vivid and accessible detail how corals have survived for millenia. Though they haven't survived rapidly warming surface temperatures like we're seeing today.

Davidson describes coral reefs as "the soul of the sea" and aptly describes their biology and importance to the ocean and to humankind. The book is simultaneously a travel narrative, scientific and environmental treatise, and philosophical look at why we need to take better care of coral reefs and other precious ecosystems. Though the messages in the book are clear that coral reefs are in trouble, Davidson's writing is not filled with gloom and doom and somber predictions of a coral-less ocean. By putting coral reefs in the context of survival, he inspires hope for their future. I cannot recommend this book highly enough!

Excellent read
Even if you have no prior knowledge about reefs, this book explains and makes sense of the entire reef ecosystem. I would highly reccommend it, especially for teenagers with an interest in coral reefs and thier preservation, to spark thier interest in environmental issues.

Great book!Educational and engaging.
I have read hundreds of articles and books about coral reefs, "The Enchanted Braid" offers one of the best introductions you could ask for into the world of coral reefs.The book features both biological andhistorical descriptions of coral reefs as well as reporting on what ishappening today to coral reefs around the world.It is clear, well writtenand easy for us "non-scientists" to understand. SCUBA divers,snorkelers and anyone else who loves the ocean should read this book.

A great book for the sport diver and reef lover.
A book well written and researched for the layman.The Enchanted Braid describes the addiction to the sea that many sport diving enthusiast experience.It provides a global perspective of the mysterious plight of our coral reefs.I read the book while in Bali, Indonesia.The well travelled author's feelings about the plight of the reefs is true to form from my perspective.The message is one we all should read and heed. ... Read more

Product Description
Coral reefs have shaped the surface of our planet far more thanhas any other ecosystem. They are dynamic systems, producing limestoneatthe rate of 400-2,000 tons per hectare per year, and influencingthechemical balance of the world's oceans. Coral reefs have beenaroundsince before the prairies or other ecosystems of floweringplantsexisted, yet they vanish about a million years before othergroups oforganisms each time there is a global mass extinction. Theyreturnafter each catastrophe, however, following a long period ofabsence.Although coral reefs are the most productive communities inthe sea,the fisheries of coral reefs are among the most vulnerabletooverexploitation. Despite having the power to create the mostmassivestructures in the world made by living creatures (includingman), thethin veneer of living tissue of coral reef is particularlysensitiveto natural disturbances and effects of human activities.Coral reefsare the first to go during periods of climate change, butthey havealways come back. This combination of attributes, creativepower andfragility, resilience and sensitivity, makes management ofcoral-reefsystems a challenge to science. Over 70% of the coralreefs in theCaribbean and Asian waters have been degraded, andperhaps a third ofthe 400 species of corals in Japanese waters arein danger of localextinction unless effective coastal managementpractices areestablished. This book presents what is known aboutfactors thatshift the balance between accretion and erosion,recruitment andmortality, stony corals and filamentous algae,recovery anddegradation--the life and death of coral reefs. Insightinto thefactors controlling the direction of these processes isessential forappropriate management decisions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Wonderful basic guide to study corals and coral reefs
This is a basic and comprehensive book about the processes that affect coral reefs. Exelent edition by Birkeland, includes some of the most restpectable scientists in the field. the book includes plentifulreferences very useful if you need to start a search in any of the topicsincluded in the book. ... Read more

Product Description
The Incredible Coral Reef, winner of a Teachers' Choice Award and a Parents' Choice Approval, invites kids to explore the dazzling coral reefs and to learn how we can help protect them. The book has loads of activities! Kids can make a wave bottle or a fish print, learn how to adopt a sea turtle, or explore a tide pool with a viewing box. The author's "Reef Report" is a delightful journal of her underwater adventures, which include swimming with stingrays, exploring a sunken wreck, and holding a baby sea turtle. Her stories inspire youngsters to respect and protect the living reefs, and she gives practical advice on how to do it. The Incredible Coral Reef is meticulously researched, contains up-to-date information, beautiful photos and artwork, and helpful references, including a glossary, a bibliography of books for kids about the rainforest, and lists of environmental organizations and rainforest exhibits. Great teacher resource! Reproducible pages. Grades 3-8. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Awesome!
For any teacher or parent of primary age children interested in the preservation of our ocean habitats. ... Read more

Product Description
Biologists have made significant advances in our understanding of the Earth's shallow subtidal marine ecosystems, but the findings on these disparate regions have never before been documented and gathered in a single volume. Now, in Food Webs and the Dynamics of Marine Reefs, Tim R. McClanahan and George M. Branch fill this lacuna with a comparative and comprehensive collection of nine essays written by experts on specific aquatic regions. Each essay focuses on the food webs of a respective ecosystem and the factors affecting these communities, from the intense and direct pressure of human influence on fisheries to the multi-vector contributors to climate change. The book covers nine shallow water marine ecosystems from selected areas throughout the world: four coral reef systems, three hard bottom systems, and two kelp systems. In summarizing their organization, human influence on them, and recent developments in these ecosystems, the authors contribute to our understanding of their ecological organization and management. Food Webs and the Dynamics of Marine Reefs will be a useful tool for all benthic marine investigators, providing an expert, comparative view of these aquatic regions. ... Read more

Product Description

Coral Reefs is a Capstone Press publication.

... Read more

Product Description
Providing a synthesis of basic and applied research, The Everglades, Florida Bay, and Coral Reefs of the Florida Keys: An Ecosystem Sourcebook takes an encyclopedic look at how to study and manage ecosystems connected by surface and subsurface water movements. The book examines the South Florida hydroscape, a series of ecosystems linked by hydrology in a region of intense human development and profound modifications to the natural environment.The book presents scientific studies in the South Florida Hydroscape, discusses policy and management by government and nonprofit groups, and explores how the whole watershed approach must be used to successfully protect coral reefs. The contributions range from the traditional to the controversial, questioning current management schemes and summarizing the results of state-of-the-art research. Billions of dollars, countless man-hours, and innumerable resources have been spent studying the various South Florida ecosystems and how they are linked. The Everglades, Florida Bay, and Coral Reefs of the Florida Keys: An Ecosystem Sourcebook shows you how the principles learned in this region can be applied to other tropical and subtropical hydroscapes. ... Read more

Product Description
Coral reefs have managed to survive for eons. Now, we are told, they face the threat of extinction as a result of CO2-induced global warming and ocean acidification. Will these biological wonders of the world's oceans soon cease to exist? Find out in this insightful new book by Dr. Craig D. Idso. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent
This excellent book is a collaboration of about 300 references and contradicts the catastrophic global warming, ocean acidifaction theory. Get this book and find out why rising atmospheric CO2 is a boon to the planet's many life forms.

A surprisingly detailed and careful review of the research on the growth and survival of coral reefs.
This little book is quite deceptive in that its 67 pages of text provide a very wide ranging review of the research on coral reefs. The amount of detail is so great that I read many paragraphs multiple times and felt at the end that I had read a much longer book.

Dr. Idso is to be commended for this excellent review of the research on the state of these fascinating underwater ecosystems.Those 23 additional pages listing the many references are no joke. I was surprised at the amount of detailed research being done on coral. I don't even want to try and count the number of researchers involved. Or the many fine experiments and observational studies carried out.

As CO2 increases in the atmosphere it of course also increases in the ocean (some have suggested at a 1 to 50 ratio).There have been predictions that increased ocean temperature and acidity will reduce rates of coral calcification, weaken coral skeletons and cause coral death.

Dr. Idso reports that contrary to the models predictions there is no simple link between high ocean temperatures and coral bleaching, and that corals adapt and respond to their environment. Many times this is a replacement of the zooxanthellae during stress induced bleaching by varieties that are more tolerant of that particular stress.

Coral reefs have persisted through geologic time (about 200 million years for scleractinian corals, much, much longer than humans have existed) and in sea temperatures 10-15 degrees C warmer than at present. They have also survived periods when CO2 concentrations were 2 to 7 times higher. Thus coral survival seems to be more closely related to the rate of external change and their ability to adapt.

Predicted rises in sea level likewise are well within the growth rates of coral and will in fact allow for the expansion of coral in many areas.

Coral is bleaching in some areas and thriving in others. Its overall health appears very good with real world observations contradicting the results of the climate models and often refuting their predictions.

There is too much in this book to even list the major topics, but readers will be well rewarded if you have any interest in the effects of additional CO2 and the state of research in the marine world.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

good book for what it's good for: the one to bring with you
A number of reviews criticize this book for its lack of depth. Hello, it's a field guide. It's a single book on all kinds of Indo-Pacific marine life in and around coral reefs--everything from algae to sea turtles. So this is the compact reference we bring with us on Indo-Pacific dive trips. We have most of the other books mentioned in other reviews, and we use them a lot when we're back home poring over our photos. For example, "Coral Reef Animals of the Indo Pacific" is great but it's only for invertebrates, while this book covers everything.

One other advantage of this book is that it only contains common critters. Odds are what you saw is common, so we use this book first and only go to our others if by some chance what we saw wasn't common.

I haven't seen one other all-purpose guide mentioned in other reviews. It may be better than this but it has one drawback from my point of view: it includes Red Sea and Caribbean critters. I want to pack one field guide, and I want it to be region-specific. Caribbean biotopes in particular are so different from the Indo-Pacific region that such a guide is necessarily going to be cluttered with stuff that's irrelevant to an Indo-Pacific trip.

The airlines are getting more and more restrictive about luggage, and the internal carriers (such as Merpati within Indonesia) are worse. I used to bring half a dozen underwater guides. Now I just bring this one, and so I need it to cover everything I see--not just fish--but nothing from elsewhere--such as the Caribbean.

It's great to see shots of juvenile and male/female fish, which you get with more detailed/heavy/specialized guides. We have such books at home. For our hotel room or liveaboard cabin, though, this one will do, and do nicely.

Ambitious but superseded
I bought this book a long time ago, and while I still find it occasionally useful, I must also add it is quite superficial - many Indo-Pacific species are illustrated, but the accompanying texts are minimal, outdated or simply non-existent. To put it simply, it has been superseded by several newer titles devoted to the same area. Divers, underwater photographers and reef aquarium keepers should consider instead the more recent, complete, updated and infinitely better illustrated Reef Fish Identification - Tropical Pacific by Gerry Allen, A Diver's Guide to Reef Life by Andrea and Antonella Ferrari and A Diver's Guide to Underwater Malaysia Macrolife by Andrea and Antonella Ferrari - the latter, despite its limiting title, representing in my opinion the final word on Indo-Pacific critters, at least for the time being.

Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide
For divers, this is the best book I have seen out there.It is loaded with pictures of just about every marine wildlife in the ocean.This is perfect for divers logging fish seen.Great pictures to identify with a small description to go along.Just what every diver needs.I have not found it anywhere in domestic dive shops.I got my first copy while diving in Australia.It is worth the money.I got a sincere thanks from my friend that I gave my second copy that I got from Amazon.

Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide
Best field guide that is in print for the Indo-Pacific Region.Used it to identify sea life on the Great Barrier Reef.

As its name implies, a good field guide
I have owned this book for about 2 years.I must say that I always brought this book with me every time I go diving in the Indo-Pacific region.It has a rather extensive coverage of the species that you may encounter while diving in this region.Nearly all of the photos are of good quality, allowing for easy identification.Of course, there are species that you may not be able to find in the book. Anyway, I don't think that you can find a book covering all species and it's handy enough to allow you to bring with you while you're on a holiday.Don't expect that this book will give you extensive background information on the behaviour, reproduction...As its name imply, it serves as a field guide for identification of the species and only basic but adequate information elucidated.All in all, I would recommend this book if you want an coral reef identifier of the Indo-Pacific region. ... Read more

Product Description

Like many coral specialists fifteen years ago, J. E. N. Veron thought Australia's Great Barrier Reef was impervious to climate change. "Owned by a prosperous country and accorded the protection it deserves, it would surely not go the way of the Amazon rain forest or the parklands of Africa, but would endure forever. That is what I thought once, but I think it no longer." This book is Veron's Silent Spring for the world's coral reefs.

Veron presents the geological history of the reef, the biology of coral reef ecosystems, and a primer on what we know about climate change. He concludes that the Great Barrier Reef and, indeed, most coral reefs will be dead from mass bleaching and irreversible acidification within the coming century unless greenhouse gas emissions are curbed. If we don't have the political will to confront the plight of the world's reefs, he argues, current processes already in motion will become unstoppable, bringing on a mass extinction the world has not seen for 65 million years.

Our species has cracked its own genetic code and sent representatives of its kind to the moon--we can certainly save the world's reefs if we want to. But to achieve this goal, we must devote scientific expertise and political muscle to the development of green technologies that will dramatically reduce greenhouse emissions and reverse acidification of the oceans.

Customer Reviews (3)

Interesting, Touching, but Terrifying
This book was awesome and proved very informative and I would highly recommend it, however the last couple of pages are where the author gives you their personal opinion (I do believe they earned their right to do so)and it is a bit of downer.Their personal outlook on the future of the coral reefs is rather bleak and suggests that within my generation's lifetime if not their own the reefs will disappear for the extension of the human race's existence.This however, arguably, makes the book of greater importance, because if people don't know then they will never be able to care.

An Unfortunate Reality
In "A Reef in Time:The Great Barrier Reef from Beginning to End" the highly respected coral reef expert J. E. N. Veron describes both the history of reefs in general and the Great Barrier Reef in particular.Certainly this book is not exactly uplifting because it outlines the future end of the reef, not in space, but in time.This end is to a large part premature and almost certainly to be brought on by human activity.

As Veron notes reefs have come and gone throughout the history of the earth, appearing in the Devonian, Permian and Triassic, only to be destroyed in mass extinction events.New and different reefs returned, but not until after hundreds of thousands to millions of years.On both sides of the Rio Grande Valley, where I now live, are immense remains of middle Permian reefs, all of which disappeared in that mother of all extinction events which marks the Permian-Triassic boundary.The reefs now stand over 4000 feet above sea level, a monument to impermanence. Such would eventually be the fate of the monumental Great Barrier Reef, but in tens of thousands of years at least.The activities of humans (in causing global warming, direct damage to reefs and acidification of the oceans) may now cause the same destruction in hundreds of years or less.

What is to be done?Venon thinks that there is some cause for hope, but I am unsure that that such hope is warranted.In this I would like to be wrong.However I see no political will on the part of either governments or populations to curb their activities in time before tipping points are reached that commit us to a major disruption of the planet.In essence we in the United States have wasted nearly eight years that we really did not have because of an administration that preferred wishful thinking to reality.Still I cannot just blame the United States as even the European Union will not reach its own goals and China and India, among others, are hurrying to reach the same levels of greenhouse gas emissions as the developed world.

Venon has written a thoughtful and well documented book that will certainly educate the reader in the current knowledge of reefs and the likely result of our current predicament. I recommend it, but be aware that you may find it depressing, despite Venon's attempts to be upbeat.

An instructive read on a depressing topic
Excellent overview of the Great Barrier Reef's history.The text flows, is extremely easy to read, and the chapters and headings are set out logically.Much of the background involves controversial theories (e.g. reasons for major extinctions), and these, among others, are discussed thoroughly and with sufficient maps, given the relatively short length and overall scope of the book.The important points (carbon dioxide and ocean acidification) are drilled home repeatedly without a loss of their impact.

It is clear that the target audience for this book is for newcomers to the fields of coral research or paleontology.The only major flaw I see in the book are the many identical diagrams and photographs from previous publications by Dr. Veron, but, for those who pick up this book with no prior knowledge, this same information must be novel and informative.Even for those who have a background in the above fields, there is enough new information in this book to satisfy, and a few veritable gems of insight and observation.

This book has a few ideas which people may or may not agree with Dr. Veron, but it is well-researched and well-argued.The overriding message presented in the final chapters is certainly the focus of the book, and in the end, the other details which may or may not be correct rightly take a back seat.

Overall a recommended read. ... Read more