Ocean of life
Subtitle: how our seas are changing
By: Callum Roberts
Publisher: Allen Lane
Published: 2012
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 389
ISBN-13: 9781846143946
Subjects: Ocean and civilization; Ocean; History; Oceanography; Popular Science; Meeresökologie; Meereskunde; Umweltschaden
Description: "Callum Roberts uses his lifetime's experience working with the oceans to show why they are the most mysterious places on earth, their depths still largely unexplored. In The Ocean of Life we get a panoramic tour beneath the seas: Why do currents circulate the way do? Where exactly do they go? How has the chemistry of the oceans changed? How polluted are we making them? Above all, Roberts reveals the richness of their life, and how it has altered over the centuries. The oceans are now under unprecedented threat. Not only does Roberts show how we are fishing our oceans to extinction, crucially, he explains how this directly affects our lives on land. Ninety-five percent of habitable space on earth lies in the oceans, and marine plants produce half the world's oxygen; the oceans themselves absorb vast quantities of carbon dioxide. The life they support is now in the balance. The Ocean of Life should galvanise debate worldwide. Roberts shows how we can arrest and reverse the damage we are doing."--Publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 334-374) and index.
Table of contents: title: Prologue; title: 1. Four and a half billion years; title: 2. Food from the sea; title: 3. Less fish in the sea; title: 4. Winds and currents; title: 5. Life on the move; title: 6. Rising tides; title: 7. Corrosive seas; title: 8. Dead zones and the world's great rivers; title: 9. Unwholesome waters; title: 10. Age of plastic; title: 11. Not so silent world; title: 12. Aliens, invaders and the homogenization of life; title: 13. Pestilence and plague; title: 14. Mare incognitum; title: 15. Ecosystems at your service; title: 16. Farming the sea; title: 17. Great clean-up; title: 18. Can we cool our warming world?; title: 19. New deal for the oceans; title: 20. Life refurbished; title: 21. Saving the giants of the sea; title: 22. Preparing for the worst; title: Epilogue: The sea ahead; title: Appendix 1: Seafood with a clear conscience; title: Appendix 2: Conservation charities working to protect ocean life.