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Ecology of fjords and coastal waters
Pergamon PII: S0025--326X(97)00033-7
Ecology of Fjords and Coastal Waters, H. R. Skljdai, C. Hopkins, K. E. Erikstad and H. P. Leinaas, eds, 1995, 648 pp., Price Dfl. 430.00, $268.75. ISBN 0-44482096-5. The development of marine science in temperate areas over the past century means that we now know much of the fine detail of the way systems function and we think that we understand systems sufficiently well to manage them. In contrast, the science of the high Arctic regions is poorly understood not least because of the logistical difficulties in studying them. Despite this, these regions are becoming areas of intense development for oil and gas exploration as well as receiving greater attention with respect to their fisheries. This volume aims to rectify this deficiency as it is part of the proceedings of the MARE NOR, a symposium on the Ecology of Fjords and Coastal Waters, Tromso, Norway, 5-9 December 1994. The MARE NOR was the Norwegian Research Programme on North Norwegian Coastal Ecology, lasting from 1990 to 1994 and was initiated to understand this system more comprehensively. The papers are collected into 7 themes with the themes having differing numbers of component papers and several papers could have been placed in other themes. The papers are mostly from very precise studies although there are some general aspects; they contain spatial date for fjordic and coastal systems in Scotland, Norway and Canada and temporal studies with short term periodicity and daily cycles as well as longer term (up to a decade). The first theme, on physical processes and seasonal patterns, contains eleven papers covering factors influencing primary production, such as environmental conditions, phytoplankton dynamics, light attenuation and seasonal and nutrient cycles. The modelling of the onset of blooms and modelling with satellite data are also discussed as are zooplankton dynamics and behaviour and predator-prey interrelationships. The second section gives a further nine physical papers covering fronts, advection and distributional patterns and concentrates on the physical oceanography of t]ordic systems and shelf seas, including the Lofoten Islands. It includes buoyancy and wind-driven circulation, the influence of freshwater inputs and the renewal of water masses. Effects on zooplankton displacement are described including the distribution and swimming of jelly fishes, based on laboratory and field studies. The third section, on harmful algae, contains only one paper and details experimental and field studies on Gyrodinium blooms in fjords; this in particular has information of value for other areas. Similarly, the fourth section covers the influence of human activity in Arctic waters by giving the baseline studies on the
Marine Pollution Bulletin, Vol. 34, No. 6, pp. 491-492, 1997 © 1997 Elsevier Science Lid All rights reserved. Printed in Great Britain 0025-326X/97 $17.00 + 0.00
benthos of the Barents Sea. The lack of papers on these topics is surprising given, firstly, the wide-spread concerns about hypernutrification and eutrophication and secondly, the proposed and actual oil and gas exploration in the area. The fifth section includes seven papers on fish ecology and stock interactions and details recruitment and trophic interactions between oceanic and coastal fish stocks, nursery areas of commercial stocks and species, and modelling of fish migrations in Pacific N-W America. There is a discussion of catch-at-age data and the perennial problem in fisheries management of the need for taking decisions in the light of poor or missing data for stock assessments. Recent developments include the reappearance of spring-spawning herring, the food web and energetics at coastal spawning grounds and the effects of wind on larval patterns. The section embraces molecular ecological techniques and genetic studies of stock differentiation in Norwegian and Arctic cod populations. The following section has seven papers on seabird ecology and discusses spatial and temporal scaling of energy flux through marine nekton, in particular the importance of capelin populations. The section brings together the use of planktonic organisms as tracers of water movements, the remote sensing of foraging patterns in seabirds and seals for studies of predatorprey interactions in marine systems, including a theoretical assessment. Some of the papers take an holistic view by detailing large-scale interactions between seabirds, including energy expenditure and food consumption, and their prey and humans in Barents Sea. For selected species (puffin and kittiwake), very precise studies are given and include survival and chick production, energetics and helminth parasites. The final section has 10 papers on the ecology and biology of kelps and urchins in Arctic and high latitude European and North American waters. Kelp productivity, physiological adaptation, nutrient balance, reproduction and growth are given together with growth and population dynamics of urchins and local patterns of mortality, plus nematode infestation. These features are then combined in discussing grazing on kelp by urchins and the effects of overfishing on both kelp-urchin and fish-seabird-otter interactions. There are wider ramifications such as the effects on gadoid predators of urchins and on the food web, on sea otter ecology and relationship with otter predation on urchins as an indication of the links between key members of the community. The programme, symposium and thus these proceedings are designed to lead towards a better and more comprehensive understanding of the processes requird to manage fisheries. However, the volume is a collection of papers with little attempt to take an overall view of the science of these areas and it includes neither an introduction nor a concluding discussion. Thus any attempt to create a synthesis of the information is in the 491
Marine Pollution Bulletin
minds of the reader and the only hint of a rounded book as opposed to merely a collection of papers is though the keyword index. Other papers from the symposium are being published elsewhere so this volume is not a complete collection of the proceedings. One presumes that the MARE N O R programme was put together as a set of interlinking and comprehensive studies and one hopes that all works is eventually brought together to produce a holistic assessment. Unfortunately this is seldom the ease with this type of programme. The volume will be of particular value for workers on dynamics and physical processes and their numerical modelling and there are some good background conceptual models. It is valuable in referring to grey
492
and Eastern European literature and in giving good data sets derived from conventional techniques and new technologies. The volume has much of precise interest for high latitude researchers and thus it would have been better to have an indication of this in the title, otherwise the title is misleading. Researchers and students will find the book of value and the keyword index should allow a greater use of the volume. Unfortunately the excessive cost of the book will put it beyond the reach of most individuals and many libraries. MICHAEL ELLIOTT Department of Biological Sciences, University of Hull, UK
Ecology of Fjords and Coastal Waters, H. R. Skljdai, C. Hopkins, K. E. Erikstad and H. P. Leinaas, eds, 1995, 648 pp., Price Dfl. 430.00, $268.75. ISBN 0-44482096-5. The development of marine science in temperate areas over the past century means that we now know much of the fine detail of the way systems function and we think that we understand systems sufficiently well to manage them. In contrast, the science of the high Arctic regions is poorly understood not least because of the logistical difficulties in studying them. Despite this, these regions are becoming areas of intense development for oil and gas exploration as well as receiving greater attention with respect to their fisheries. This volume aims to rectify this deficiency as it is part of the proceedings of the MARE NOR, a symposium on the Ecology of Fjords and Coastal Waters, Tromso, Norway, 5-9 December 1994. The MARE NOR was the Norwegian Research Programme on North Norwegian Coastal Ecology, lasting from 1990 to 1994 and was initiated to understand this system more comprehensively. The papers are collected into 7 themes with the themes having differing numbers of component papers and several papers could have been placed in other themes. The papers are mostly from very precise studies although there are some general aspects; they contain spatial date for fjordic and coastal systems in Scotland, Norway and Canada and temporal studies with short term periodicity and daily cycles as well as longer term (up to a decade). The first theme, on physical processes and seasonal patterns, contains eleven papers covering factors influencing primary production, such as environmental conditions, phytoplankton dynamics, light attenuation and seasonal and nutrient cycles. The modelling of the onset of blooms and modelling with satellite data are also discussed as are zooplankton dynamics and behaviour and predator-prey interrelationships. The second section gives a further nine physical papers covering fronts, advection and distributional patterns and concentrates on the physical oceanography of t]ordic systems and shelf seas, including the Lofoten Islands. It includes buoyancy and wind-driven circulation, the influence of freshwater inputs and the renewal of water masses. Effects on zooplankton displacement are described including the distribution and swimming of jelly fishes, based on laboratory and field studies. The third section, on harmful algae, contains only one paper and details experimental and field studies on Gyrodinium blooms in fjords; this in particular has information of value for other areas. Similarly, the fourth section covers the influence of human activity in Arctic waters by giving the baseline studies on the
Marine Pollution Bulletin, Vol. 34, No. 6, pp. 491-492, 1997 © 1997 Elsevier Science Lid All rights reserved. Printed in Great Britain 0025-326X/97 $17.00 + 0.00
benthos of the Barents Sea. The lack of papers on these topics is surprising given, firstly, the wide-spread concerns about hypernutrification and eutrophication and secondly, the proposed and actual oil and gas exploration in the area. The fifth section includes seven papers on fish ecology and stock interactions and details recruitment and trophic interactions between oceanic and coastal fish stocks, nursery areas of commercial stocks and species, and modelling of fish migrations in Pacific N-W America. There is a discussion of catch-at-age data and the perennial problem in fisheries management of the need for taking decisions in the light of poor or missing data for stock assessments. Recent developments include the reappearance of spring-spawning herring, the food web and energetics at coastal spawning grounds and the effects of wind on larval patterns. The section embraces molecular ecological techniques and genetic studies of stock differentiation in Norwegian and Arctic cod populations. The following section has seven papers on seabird ecology and discusses spatial and temporal scaling of energy flux through marine nekton, in particular the importance of capelin populations. The section brings together the use of planktonic organisms as tracers of water movements, the remote sensing of foraging patterns in seabirds and seals for studies of predatorprey interactions in marine systems, including a theoretical assessment. Some of the papers take an holistic view by detailing large-scale interactions between seabirds, including energy expenditure and food consumption, and their prey and humans in Barents Sea. For selected species (puffin and kittiwake), very precise studies are given and include survival and chick production, energetics and helminth parasites. The final section has 10 papers on the ecology and biology of kelps and urchins in Arctic and high latitude European and North American waters. Kelp productivity, physiological adaptation, nutrient balance, reproduction and growth are given together with growth and population dynamics of urchins and local patterns of mortality, plus nematode infestation. These features are then combined in discussing grazing on kelp by urchins and the effects of overfishing on both kelp-urchin and fish-seabird-otter interactions. There are wider ramifications such as the effects on gadoid predators of urchins and on the food web, on sea otter ecology and relationship with otter predation on urchins as an indication of the links between key members of the community. The programme, symposium and thus these proceedings are designed to lead towards a better and more comprehensive understanding of the processes requird to manage fisheries. However, the volume is a collection of papers with little attempt to take an overall view of the science of these areas and it includes neither an introduction nor a concluding discussion. Thus any attempt to create a synthesis of the information is in the 491
Marine Pollution Bulletin
minds of the reader and the only hint of a rounded book as opposed to merely a collection of papers is though the keyword index. Other papers from the symposium are being published elsewhere so this volume is not a complete collection of the proceedings. One presumes that the MARE N O R programme was put together as a set of interlinking and comprehensive studies and one hopes that all works is eventually brought together to produce a holistic assessment. Unfortunately this is seldom the ease with this type of programme. The volume will be of particular value for workers on dynamics and physical processes and their numerical modelling and there are some good background conceptual models. It is valuable in referring to grey
492
and Eastern European literature and in giving good data sets derived from conventional techniques and new technologies. The volume has much of precise interest for high latitude researchers and thus it would have been better to have an indication of this in the title, otherwise the title is misleading. Researchers and students will find the book of value and the keyword index should allow a greater use of the volume. Unfortunately the excessive cost of the book will put it beyond the reach of most individuals and many libraries. MICHAEL ELLIOTT Department of Biological Sciences, University of Hull, UK