Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals: Edition 3

Bernd Würsig · J.G.M. Thewissen · Kit M. Kovacs

Nov 2017 · Academic Press

About this ebook

The Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, Third Edition covers the ecology, behavior, conservation, evolution, form and function of whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions, manatees, dugongs, otters and polar bears. This edition provides new content on anthropogenic concerns, latest information on emerging threats such as ocean noise, and impacts of climate change.

With authors and editors who are world experts, this new edition is a critical resource for all who are interested in marine mammals, especially upper level undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and managers, and is a top reference for those in related fields, from oceanographers to environmental scientists.

• Significant content and topic updates, as well as the addition of new topics in such areas as anthropogenic disturbance
• Visual maps of the oceans and seas mentioned in contributions, helping to place the geographical features described in the text with clear, consistent species illustrations
• Written to help users learn new information or brush up on a topic quickly, with the references at the end of each entry to help guide readers into more specialist literature

About the author

Bernd Würsig, his students, and postdocs have studied marine mammals and sea birds on all continents, with present work mainly on dusky dolphins in diverse habitats of New Zealand, and beleaguered Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins of Hong Kong. His specialties are behavior and social strategies, especially as related to human disturbance. He has published and co-published about 180 peer review papers, over 50 popular articles, and 7 books. He is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the Department of Marine Biology of Texas A&M University at Galveston.

J. G. M. ‘Hans’ Thewissen studies the evolution, anatomy and embryology of marine mammals, and has travelled the world to study fossil and living whales. His work with the sense organs of modern whales explores the impact of global change on marine mammal populations. He co-edited the three editions of Elsevier’s Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals and wrote a popular book on whale evolution: The Walking Whales.

Kit M. Kovacs is the Biodiversity Research Program Leader for the Norwegian Polar Institute in Tromsø Norway and a Professor of Biology at University Studies on Svalbard (UNIS). She has worked with marine mammals in Polar Regions for the past 30 years, focusing primarily on studies in the fields of behavioral ecology and population biology. The impact of climate change on ice-associated species has been a topic of principal concern in recent years in her research projects. She is author/co-author of more than 200 primary publications and the author/editor of ten books and numerous popular articles.