Jellyfish Blooms: Causes, Consequences, and Recent Advances : Proceedings of the Second International Jellyfish Blooms Symposium, held at the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, 24?27 June, 2007

Jellyfish form spectacular population blooms and there is compelling evidence that jellyfish blooms are becoming more frequent and widespread. Blooms have enormous ecological, economic, and social impacts. For example, they have been implicated in the decline of commercial fisheries, they block the cooling water intakes of coastal industries and ships, and reduce the amenity of coastal waters for tourists. Blooms may be caused by overfishing, climate change, and coastal pollution, which all affect coastal waters around the world. Jellyfish Blooms: Causes, Consequences and Recent Advances presents reviews and original research articles written by the world’s leading experts on jellyfish. Topics covered include the evolution of jellyfish blooms, the impacts of climate change on jellyfish populations, advances in acoustic and molecular methods used to study jellyfish, the role of jellyfish in food webs and nutrient cycles, and the ecology of the benthic stages of the jellyfish life history. This is a valuable resource for students and professional marine biologists, fisheries scientists, oceanographers, and researchers of climate change. Front Matter....Pages i-5 Obituary: Francesc Pagès (1962–2007)....Pages 7-10 The growth of jellyfishes....Pages 11-21 Extension of methods for jellyfish and ctenophore trophic ecology to large-scale research....Pages 23-50 Patterns of jellyfish abundance in the North Atlantic....Pages 51-65 Jellyfish in ecosystems, online databases, and ecosystem models....Pages 67-85 Quantifying movement of the tropical Australian cubozoan Chironex fleckeri using acoustic telemetry....Pages 87-97 Acoustic survey of a jellyfish- dominated ecosystem (Mljet Island, Croatia)....Pages 99-111 Stock enhancement of the edible jellyfish ( Rhopilema esculentum Kishinouye) in Liaodong Bay, China: a review....Pages 113-118 Stable isotope and fatty acid tracers in energy and nutrient studies of jellyfish: a review....Pages 119-132 Influence of jellyfish blooms on carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling and plankton production....Pages 133-149 Influence of decomposing jellyfish on the sediment oxygen demand and nutrient dynamics....Pages 151-160 A review and synthesis on the systematics and evolution of jellyfish blooms: advantageous aggregations and adaptive assemblages....Pages 161-191 A character-based analysis of the evolution of jellyfish blooms: adaptation and exaptation....Pages 193-215 A new Taqman© PCR-based method for the detection and identification of scyphozoan jellyfish polyps....Pages 217-228 Comparative analysis of nuclear ribosomal DNA from the moon jelly Aurelia sp.1 (Cnidaria: Scyphozoa) with characterizations of the 18S, 28S genes, and the intergenic spacer (IGS)....Pages 229-239 The potential importance of podocysts to the formation of scyphozoan blooms: a review....Pages 241-246 Effects of temperature and light intensity on asexual reproduction of the scyphozoan, Aurelia aurita (L.) in Taiwan....Pages 247-258 Substrate preferences of scyphozoan Aurelia labiata polyps among common dock-building materials....Pages 259-267 Ontogenetic changes in the ecological function of the association behavior between jack mackerel Trachurus japonicus and jellyfish....Pages 269-277 Kinematic properties of the jellyfish Aurelia sp....Pages 279-289