Robert J. Wootton - Böcker

This is intended as an introduction for advanced undergraduates and postgraduates in marine ecology, freshwater ecology, fish biology, fisheries ecology and aquaculture. It adopts a habitat-based approach, ranging from head waters to ocean depths, and from tropics to polar regions, thereby loosely reflecting the organization of general ecology textbooks and demonstrating how the principles of contemporary ecology can be applied to fishes.

This text is intended for final-year undergraduates and postgraduates, but may be useful for research workers, who wish to see their research in a wider context. It assumes a knowledge of contemporary ecological ideas, looking at how themes emphasized in the first edition have developed and contributed to the contemporary understanding of fish ecology. The recognition of the importance of understanding the responses of individual fish is illustrated by the development of individual-based models that simulate patterns of growth, mortality and reproduction in populations.

Reproductive Biology of Teleost Fishes is the first integrated review of the reproductive biology of the bony fishes, which are the most species-rich and diversified group of vertebrates. Teleosts display remarkable variation in their modes of reproduction, and this volume is intended to provide a framework for understanding the remarkable reproductive diversity of this group. It describes their reproductive biology using, wherever possible, phylogenetic analyses and life-history theory as a means to interpret the information. The book addresses the genetic, physiological, behavioural, ecological, evolutionary and applied aspects of teleost reproduction in a comparative framework that emphasises the adaptive basis of reproductive diversity.Reproductive Biology of Teleost Fishes provides a comprehensive synthesis of fish reproduction that will be of great interest to life scientists, particularly ecologists, evolutionary biologists, physiologists and advanced undergraduates, postgraduates and research workers requiring a comprehensive overview of fish reproduction. The book is suitable for courses in fish biology and ecology, reproductive physiology and reproductive genetics. It also addresses applied questions and will be of value for courses on fisheries science and aquaculture. Libraries in all universities and research establishments where biological sciences, fisheries science and aquaculture are studied and taught should have several copies of this important book on their shelves.

Fishes live in a world that is unfamiliar to us. Although we may make or even more advanced brief visits to this other world using a snorkel, scuba diving equipment, we can never become a part of it. Yet, an understanding of fish ecology requires an awareness of the relationships between fishes and their environment. The purpose of this book is to introduce the ecology of fishes by describing the inter-relationships between fishes and the aquatic habitats they occupy. The book can be read in complementary ways. A sequential reading, chapter by chapter, covers the main themes of ecology, including habitat use, species interactions, migration, feeding, population dynamics and reproduction in relation to the major habitats occupied by fishes. An alternative reading selects a particular sort of habitat, such as rivers, and, by using the index and skipping from chapter to chapter, builds up a picture of the ecology of fishes living in that habitat. The text is written for advanced students. Its emphasis is on descriptive rather than quantitative ecology. It is assumed that the reader will be familiar with the basic biology of fishes, acquired from a text such as The Biology of Fishes (Bone and Marshall, 1982) also published in the Tertiary Level Biology series. I would like to thank Dr J. D. Fish and two anonymous reviewers who, within a tight time-schedule, tried to improve the text. Any mistakes and shortcomings are my contribution.