Customer Reviews

Marine Mammals: Biology and Conservation

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

"Let's cut to the chase, this book is simply an outstanding read regarding the evolution, behavior, health, and conservation of marine mammals... the following five topics are covered in a very complete fashion: (1) life history and ecology; (2) sensory systems; (3) survey and study techniques; (4) health, parasites, and pathogens; and (5) conservation and management. No one of these sections in necessarily better than the other, as they are all provide excellent summaries of the available literature. The text is written in a style appropriate for advanced undergraduates and graduate students. One of the things I found particularly appealing about the book is that the editors clearly emphasized to each of the contributing authors that they should include some of the cutting edge questions, where future research needs to be directed to move the various fields forward. Therefore, the text is replete with ideas and suggestions for Masters and Ph.D. level research. In addition, I think the editors, who obviously worked closely with the authors of each chapter, found the right balance between emphasizing the underlying discipline...and the wonderment of knowledge about marine mammals... this is a textbook that belongs in the bookshelves of practicing marine mammal biologists and academics interested in vertebrate biology. In addition, I highly recommend this book to graduate students interested in applying the tools of a particular discipline to a specific hypothesis that can be tested using marine mammal data. As far as textbooks go, this text has "legs" and I would venture to guess that its useful shelf-life will exceed 10 years in most disciplines covered." - Douglas P. DeMaster, National Marine Mammal Laboratory

"The editors have successfully defined and filled this niche. The book has two distinctive viewpoints. First, all of the chapters focus on issues relating to conservation. For example, sensory systems are covered because such knowledge is relevant for the later chapters to deal with net entanglement and noise pollution...this provides an often subtle, but refreshing alternative viewpoint to most other recent books on marine mammals."

"This book is generally of high editorial standard... I intend to recommend the book as background reading for my course and to use some chapters as the basis for restructuring some of my lectures... If you are interested in marine mammals this book will certainly be a very useful addition to your library."- by Helen Marsh, James Cook University