Exploring the potential use of bivalves as indicators and monitors of ecosystem health, this book describes live and computer simulated experiments, mesocosm studies, and field manipulation experiments. This second edition discusses major new developments, including phase shifts in many coastal and estuarine ecosystems dominated by suspension-feeding bivalves, the invasion or introduction of alien bivalve species, the rapid growth of environmental restoration focused on bivalves, and the examination of geological history with regard to global climate change and its impact on bivalve-dominated systems.

Bivalve mollusks are roughly hand-sized animals that can aggregate into large groups of millions of individuals as reefs—pumping and filtering enough water in short periods of time to control the processes on the reef and adjacent tidal waters—and serve as valuable indicators and monitors of ecosystem health. Ecology of Marine Bivalves: An Ecosystems Approach, Second Edition examines the ecology of bivalves from an ecosystem or holistic view, taking into consideration their history, thermodynamics, components, and interactions with other species—namely humans.

With the advent of the United Nations Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA) in the year 2000, its emphasis for utilizing the ecosystem approach as a standard guideline, and the growing interest in global climate change, this edition has been expanded to include:

• A new chapter on shell rings, which emphasizes the importance of interaction between disciplines so that we might learn from the past in order to plan for the future
• Scientific work done on several continents, including case studies from the Chesapeake Bay, the Wadden Sea, and other case studies from Europe and New Zealand
• Additional material on non-equilibrium thermodynamics, complexity theory, and other cross-disciplinary interactions

This book discusses the roles of marine bivalves as a keystone species and as ecosystem engineers, and explains how bivalves are used as monitors and indicators of ecosystem stress and as a fisheries resource. Utilizing case studies and targeted published research to develop narratives suitable for a complex systems approach, the second edition of Ecology of Marine Bivalves is invaluable to scientists and marine workers interested in an up-to-date treatment of mollusks in our seas.