Wave-swept shore : the rigors of life on a rocky coast / text by Mimi Koehl ; photographs by Anne Wertheim Rosenfeld.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Koehl, Mimi, 1948-

Contributor:

Rosenfeld, Anne Wertheim, 1951-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Intertidal ecology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (192 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, 2006.

Language Note:

English

System Details:

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Summary:

Take a close look at a wave-battered coast and you will discover a rich, fascinating, and remarkably brutal environment. Here, animals and plants exposed to wind, sun, and rain at low tide must cope with crashing waves as the seas rise to submerge them each day at high tide. How do living things survive in this harsh zone? With 87 stunning color photographs and an engaging text written for those with little or no knowledge of marine biology or physics, this book tells the story of one stretch along the Pacific coast of North America-introducing the mussels, limpets, crabs, grasses, starfish, kelp, and other animals and plants that live there, and explaining how they function and flourish in an environment of waves, sand, and rocks.In pictures and words, Wave-Swept Shore explains complex phenomena, such as wave action, using simple, intuitive analogies. It explores how the forms of animals and plants affect their survival in this harsh environment, considers their distribution on the shore, and looks at their seasonal variations, focusing on what can be easily observed by visitors to the coast. Revealing the rich variety of habitats woven into what may at first look like a fairly uniform environment, the book, an effective and beautiful tool for learning about the edge of oceans everywhere, opens our eyes to the wonders of rocky shores and introduces a whole new way of looking at the natural world.

Contents:

Place and scale

Water and life on the shore

Waves

Flow, force, and fracture

Transport

Stranded, high and dry

Changes

Stepping back.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612357114

9781282357112

1282357115

9780520929999

0520929993

OCLC:

609850057