Index to NZ marine habitats

by Dr J Floor Anthoni (2001,...)
www.seafriends.org.nz/enviro/habitat/index.htm
Why is the seascape so variable? Why does one place look quite different from another one? Why is it is such a strange world? Wish to have a look at some strange places and the strange creatures living there? Click on 'introduction' first, then study the sample marine habitats.
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Introduction What is a habitat? What physical and biotic factors cause habitats to differ? Climate regions, wave regimes, substrate, depth zones. Terminology, definitions and topographic scales. (14 pages)
Sample habitats A number of typical habitats have been treated in great detail, complete with species identification.
Classification The proposed classification of sea habitats, first by area, then by depth
Further reading Books and references
Related chapters Related chapters on this web site:
Biodiversity: understanding the variety of life and how the sea differs.
The war for marine reserves: how marine reserves are proposed and put in place, but don't work to save the sea.
Britain's marine habitat classification of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee.

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Sample habitats
Some typical habitats have been treated in great detail:

In order to classify our diverse habitats, I propose the following classification which groups the habitats regionally, then by depth. We'll see how it works out in practice. (J F Anthoni) Note that Britain's marine habitat classification is in this order: substrate => exposure level => biological community => special cases

Systematic index of New Zealand habitats: From the combinations of main physical factors, the following habitats are possible:

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Further reading

The titles highlighted in blue are available from the Seafriends Library. In this library also look for books about shores elsewhere in the world. Also look for marine reserve surveys in the chapter on marine reserves.

Amos, William: The life of the seashore (Our living world of nature). 1966.
Ayling, Tony and Geoffrey J Cox: (2) Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of NZ.1982.1987.
Ballantine, W J: A biologically-defined exposure scale for the comparative description of rocky shores. 1961. Field Studies, 1 (3)
Bradstock, Mike: Between the tides, NZ shore and estuary life.1985.
Collins Nature Heritage Series: Offshore and outlying islands of NZ.1979.
Crisp, D J & Knight-Jones, E W: Grazing in terrestrial and marine environments. 1964. Blackwell, Oxford.
Gunson, Dave: Collins guide to the NZ seashore.1983
Gunson, Dave: A guide to the NZ shore.1993
Leigh Laboratory Publications

Marine Reserve Survey. (A M Ayling).1978
Lewis, J R: The ecology of rocky shores. 1964. London.
Miller, Michael and Gary Batt: (2) Reef and Beach life of NZ.1973
Morton, John: Newell, R C: Biology of intertidal animals. 1970. London
Stace, Glenys & Enderby, Tony and Jenny: What's on the beach? A guide to coastal marine life. 1997. VIKING-Penguin books.
Walsby, John: Nature watching at the beach.1990
 


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