• 
  
• Presents the coastal realm as a heterogeneous, diverse ecosystem of exceptionall high biological diversity and productivity, and where conservation challenges are most difficult and urgent
  
• Examines the critical issues facing coastal-marine conservation and the mechanisms for dealing with them
  
• Reviews the basic science required for addressing conservation issues by presenting the coastal realm as a land-sea ecosystem of global significance, and by reviewing the natural-history features of coastal-marine organisms
  
• Presents three ecologically and latitudinally distinct "real-world" case studies to create a context for understanding of regional systems, their cultures, and their conservation: the polar Bering Sea, the temperate Chesapeake Bay, and the tropical Bahamas
  
• Makes apparent the ecological stresses on the coastal realm, increasing rates of ecosystem change, loss of ecosystem health, and fragmented governance
  
• Synthesizes the major challenges for conservation and suggests future policy and management strategies, including ecosystem management and needs for achieving sustainability and addressing the environmental debt

This book is intended for undergraduates and graduates taking courses in coastal and marine conservation and management, as well as those actively engaged in coastal-marine conservation activities, and gives the reader a clear steer to future management approaches.

References additional to those in the book are available at http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/pdf/ray_references.pdf

The artwork is available to download at http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/ray/