Charles Sheppard
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Coral Reefs: A Very Short Introduction
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published
2014
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7 editions
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Coral Reefs: A Natural History
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Skyscrapers: Masterpieces of Architecture
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published
1996
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3 editions
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Railway Stations
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published
1996
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8 editions
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Coral Reefs
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published
2002
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5 editions
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Bridges
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A natural history of the coral reef
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published
1983
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Coral Reefs of the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (Coral Reefs of the World, 4)
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published
2013
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6 editions
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The Famous History of the Learned Friar Bacon
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Birds of Chagos
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“Ignorance about sharks and their important role is remarkable: even at a marine science conference in China, I was served shark-fin soup (and my refusal, as a guest of honour, caused bafflement as much as consternation).”
― Coral Reefs: A Very Short Introduction
― Coral Reefs: A Very Short Introduction
“One aspect of fish physiology is crucially important to replenishment of many fish species: the larger an adult female fish is, the more eggs it will produce. This is possibly an obvious point, but, importantly, the increase in egg production is not linear. To use a hypothetical example, a single 10kg female might produce many millions of eggs per year, while even ten 1kg females combined of the same species would produce only a few thousand per year. If we remember that the larger fish are the most prized in the fishing industry, we can immediately see that the damage done to the ecosystem by removing the largest fish is exponentially greater. I would stress here that no blame should be attached to those fishing at subsistence level for collecting what they can; for these people, it is usually a matter of survival. Leaving this consideration to one side, it is nevertheless a salutary point to note that even a very modest level of fishing intensity can cause much ecosystem distortion very quickly. In areas that were once protected but which then permitted fishing, ecosystem collapse happened in only a very few weeks.”
― Coral Reefs: A Very Short Introduction
― Coral Reefs: A Very Short Introduction
“Carefully avoided in many scientific discussions, conferences, government reports, and papers is the issue of human population. Indeed, in many conferences it is deemed to be a subject that is out of bounds. Rising numbers of people, and their desire for higher standards of living, put increasing demands on natural resources. More people are chasing a fixed or declining stock of reef resources: the area of the planet on which coral reefs can grow is limited, after all. In one sense it is really that simple. Some places have a human population doubling time of only 15 years, which reflects medical advances and its highly desirable accompaniments such as increased survival of people, especially infants. However, this means that current scientifically calculated solutions for a particular section of reef shoreline, for example, are negated when the population doubles. Thus the solution is no longer a scientific one, but has become largely a social and political one, and one of planning or zoning reefs and other resources as noted above. Human numbers are a part of the equation, and if we ignore any part of an equation then we cannot solve it.”
― Coral Reefs: A Very Short Introduction
― Coral Reefs: A Very Short Introduction
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