Living Shores: Interacting with southern Africa's marine ecosystems

Title: Living Shores
Subtitle: Interacting with southern Africa's marine ecosystems
Authors: George Branch Margo Branch
Publisher: Penguin Random House South Africa
Imprint: Struik Nature
2nd revised edition. Cape Town, South Africa 2018
ISBN 9781431700813 / ISBN 978-1-43-170081-3
Hardcover, 22 x 29 cm, 336 pages, throughout colour photographs and illustrations

About: Living Shores: Interacting with southern Africa's marine ecosystems

Living Shores revisits the award-winning 1981 classic that influenced and informed generations of beachcombers and scientists. It vividly details the exciting discoveries of the past decades and the latest understanding of marine ecosystems and their management. Covering human interactions from early mankind to the modern day, its authoritative, fresh text and superb photography and illustrations bring to life the amazing diversity of marine life, and outline practical steps required to protect our ocean heritage. To write this thoroughly reworked edition, and it really is a total revision, the George and Margo Branch (University of Cape Town) have explored from Beira to Luanda and gleaned information from over 3,500 research paper and books. They found it to be an inspiration to see the extent to which science and social circumstances have been transformed. Living Shores: Interacting with southern Africa's marine ecosystems comprises two parts: the ecosystems, and the human factor and the sea, both written to show how the past and the future of humanity are intertwined with the sea, from food to climate. It is also a fusion of science and art: for both author's passion for photography and artistic skills are integral to illustrating the principles of science. Each chapter opens with a plate that symbolises its subject matter. Pause and contemplate them, for there are stories within each.

Content: Living Shores: Interacting with southern Africa's marine ecosystems

Acknowledgements
Preface
The ecosystem
Surging seas
Restless continents
Rocky shores
Estuaries
Islands
Kelp forests
Coral reefs
The open ocean
The human factor
Humans are different
The cradle of humanking
Harvest of the seas
Sustaining the harvest
March of the aliens
Development and pollution
Marine mining
Changing climate
Spreading sea wisdom
Marine protection
Policy
References