Towards A Mechanistic Understanding Of Marine Microbial Ecosystems

Towards a Mechanistic Understanding of Marine Microbial Ecosystems

Understanding Marine Biodiversity

The diversity of marine life is being affected dramatically by fishery operations, chemical pollution and eutrophication, alteration of physical habitat, exotic species invasion, and effects of other human activities. Effective solutions will require an expanded understanding of the patterns and processes that control the diversity of life in the sea. Understanding Marine Biodiversity outlines the current state of our knowledge, and propose research agenda on marine biological diversity. This agenda represents a fundamental change in studying the oceanâ€"emphasizing regional research across a range of space and time scales, enhancing the interface between taxonomy and ecology, and linking oceanographic and ecological approaches. Highlighted with examples and brief case studies, this volume illustrates the depth and breadth of undescribed marine biodiversity, explores critical environmental issues, advocates the use of regionally defined model systems, and identifies a series of key biodiversity research questions. The authors examine the utility of various research approachesâ€"theory and modeling, retrospective analysis, integration of biotic and oceanographic surveysâ€"and review recent advances in molecular genetics, instrumentation, and sampling techniques applicable to the research agenda. Throughout the book the critical role of taxonomy is emphasized. Informative to the scientist and accessible to the policymaker, Understanding Marine Biodiversity will be of specific interest to marine biologists, ecologists, oceanographers, and research administrators, and to government agencies responsible for utilizing, managing, and protecting the oceans.

Oceans and Health:

The importance of combating infectious diseases has received international attention, p- viding the opportunity for a multidisciplinary approach that combines medicine with other scienti?candtechnologicalcapabilities,notablyinformationtechnology,nanotechnology,and biotechnology. In fact, it has been predicted that the future will bring a merging of these te- nologies with the cognitive and behavioral sciences—major forces that have the potential to balancetheworld’sinequities.Thescienti?ccommunityandworldleadersmustworktogether to use knowledge and its applications to improve the condition of the planet. The connection between infectious diseases and the oceans provides a paradigm for this perspective. A stark global context indisputably frames all human health issues in the twenty-?rst century: the world wide movement of people and goods. Throughout the past half century, international travel has skyrocketed; there are more than 500 million international arrivals per year. The greatest increase has taken place since the mid-1990s. The world has become integrated and global; consequently, the notion that it is possible to successfully eradicate a disease from the face of the planet has become simplistic. Infectious disease is a moving target and climate shifts will affect any disease that has an environmentally sensitive stage or vector. Recognizingsignalsfromclimatemodelsandincorporatingthemintohealthmeasurescanp- videnewopportunitiesforproactive—ratherthanreactive—approachestopublichealth.Thus, careful attention to the role of the oceans in human health can offer new avenues of research that will provide new means of predicting and preventing those diseases that are rooted in the environment. In this volume, pathogens in the sea are reviewed by ColinMunn, who provides a broader perspective for the topic of pathogenic microorganisms associated with the world oceans.