Ecological comparisons of sedimentary shores. K. Reise (ed.). Berlin/New York, Springer 2_001. (Ecological Studies) 151). XX, 384 s., ill. 24 cm. DEM 228,-.

The present volume contains 16 contributions to a coastal ecology meeting in 1999 on the island of Sylt, Germany. The volume is divided into four thematic parts and as it is often the case with such conference volumes, not all papers have the same scientific standard. Part 1 deals with benthic suspension feeders. Specially a paper by Commito and Dankers on mussel bed dynamics in space and time found my interest. Of more general interest to geographers is part 2, dealing with biogenic stabilization and disturbance in coastal sediments. Here we find a short but very informative paper by Paterson and Hagerthey on the role of microphytobenthos in sediment stability. There is a very good and well-illustrated paper by Cadée on sediment dynamics by bioturbating organisms. I especially enjoyed the paper by Hughes dealing with physical and biological aspects of saltmarsh management. Topics which may become increasingly important in a greenhouse scenario. In part 3 dealing with seagrasses and benthic fauna there is wellwritten discussion-paper by den Hårtog and Phillips on seagrass communities. Specially the discussion on Zostera marina and its 'wasting disease' in the 1930s will be of interest to both coastal morphologists and ecologists. The term 'wasting disease' is suggested replaced with "wasting

phenomenon' as the strong decline in the 1930s were caused by environmental factors stressing the plants's metabolism to its limits. Part 4 is mostly of interest for biologists. It contain papers dealing with structural dynamics and trophic supplies. In general the print, figures and photos are of high quality. It is therefore surprising that the Springer-Verlag has left 10 pages blank in chapter 13 and 2 pages blank in chapter 14. This renders these two contributions on benthic communities of no use. Altogether, however, this volume deserves a place on library shelves where it may serve as a good introduction for more specialized individual papers because most of the contributions are written as reviews and they have long lists of references.