tailieunhanh - WHALES, WHALING, AND OCEAN ECOSYSTEMS

Overharvesting has led to severe reductions in the abundance and range of nearly every large vertebrate species that humans have ever found worth pursuing. These megafaunal reductions, dating in some cases from first contact with early peoples (Martin 1973), are widely known. In contrast, remarkably little is known about the ecological consequences of megafaunal extirpations. Whales and whaling are part of that legacy. Most people know that large whales have been depleted, but little thought has been given to how the depletions may have influenced ocean ecosystems. This volume is an exploration of those influences | whales whaling and Ocean Eco ems EDITED BY JAMES A. ESTES DOUGLAS 1 . DEMASTER DANIEL E DOAK TERRIE M. WILLIAMS AND ROBERT L. BROWNELL JR. WHALES WHALING AND OCEAN ECOSYSTEMS The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous contribution to this book provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Fund in Environmental Studies. Financial support for the development of this volume was provided by the Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation the National Marine Fisheries Service and the . Geological Survey. The illustrations preceding each chapter were drawn by Kristen Carlson through the Mills Endowment to the Center for Ocean Health University of California Santa .