Gerardo M.E. Perillo – författare

Approx.470 pages

Coastal wetlands are under a great deal of pressure from the dual forces of rising sea level and the intervention of human populations both along the estuary and in the river catchment. Direct impacts include the destruction or degradation of wetlands from land reclamation and infrastructures. Indirect impacts derive from the discharge of pollutants, changes in river flows and sediment supplies, land clearing, and dam operations. As sea level rises, coastal wetlands in most areas of the world migrate landward to occupy former uplands. The competition of these lands from human development is intensifying, making the landward migration impossible in many cases. This book provides an understanding of the functioning of coastal ecosystems and the ecological services that they provide, and suggestions for their management. In this book a CD is included containing color figures of wetlands and estuaries in different parts of the world.- Includes a CD containing color figures of wetlands and estuaries in different parts of the world.

The original idea of this book started when we were making a residual fluxes study of the Paranagua Coastal Lagoon (Brazil) near the colonial town of Guaraque~aba.Among the beautiful mangroves of this Brazilian National Park, between profile and profile, we wondered why South American estuaries were little known in the international arena. Besides, most of the papers published in the literature are based on biological research. Practically nothing is known about their geomorphology and dynamics. That night, while we were walking along the hilly streets of the town, we decided that the only way to have an idea about the degree of advance in the geomorphology and dynamics of our estuaries was to ask the proper South American researchers to write review articles about the estuaries in which they were working or about the gen­ eral state of the art of the Geomorphology and Physical Oceanography of the estuar­ ies of his/her country. The book grew from then on. Although initially many scien­ tists offer to write a chapter, we ran into the same problem these researchers have to publish in journals, they felt that their English was not good enough and withdrew. However, we are very satisfy about the number and quality of the contributions which also passed a very strong review process.