Major Biological Processes in European Tidal Estuaries

Book excerpt: Nineteen papers representing the results of a project funded by the Commission of the European Communities to study macrotidal estuaries from the Elbe to the Tagus in a comparative and coherent manner by way of a standardized methodology. The papers address topics in primary production, bacterial processes, zooplankton, hyperbenthos, meiobenthos, macrobenthos, and modeling. A major result of the comparison is that salinity gradients explain species succession within each estuary, yet similar succession series are found at different salinity levels in different estuaries. The volume is reprinted from Hydrobiologia, v.311, 1995. Includes graphs and maps. Lacks an index. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR