This book integrates a variety of issues such as regional settings of productivity and nutrient
cycling plankton of coastal and shelf systems plankton climate change and human-induced
changes harmful algae and their impacts and gelatinous zooplankton. This book explores the
intriguing marine plankton communities of the SWA region of South America encompassing low to
high latitude environments framed by a complex hydrographic background and global climate
change. This vast and iconic region has been largely under-recognized and under-studied.
However in recent years a strong interest has emerged along with the acknowledgment of its
high biological productivity. The book concludes by discussing conservation in the region
highlighting regional biodiversity hotspots where the challenges of climate change habitat
loss and other threats to biodiversity may be particularly acute. Plankton Ecology of the
Southwestern Atlantic is a timely synthesis of the field setting a new baseline for future
research. It will be important reading for both researchers and graduate students and will
also be of interest and use to a professional audience of oceanographers conservation
biologists stake holders and educated science enthusiasts
