During the last decades there has been an increasing evidence of drastic changes in marine ecosystems due to human-induced impacts, especially on benthic ecosystems. The so called 'animal forests' are currently showing a dramatic loss of biomass and biodiversity all over the world.

Table of Contents

• Animal Forests of the World: An Overview - Sergio Rossi, Lorenzo Bramanti, Andrea Gori and Covadonga Orejas
• Part I: Taxonomy, Biodiversity, Biogeography, and Evolution of Animal Forests
• – Caribbean Coral Reefs: Past, Present, and Insights into the Future - Héctor Reyes-Bonilla and Eric Jordán-Dahlgren
• – Brazilian Marine Animal Forests: A New World to Discover in the Southwestern Atlantic - Marcelo de Oliveira Soares, Tito Monteiro da Cruz Lotufo, Leandro Manzoni Vieira, Sula Salani, Eduardo Hajdu, Helena Matthews-Cascon, Zelinda M. A. N. Leão and Ruy Kenji Papa de Kikuchi
• – Diversity and Evolution of Octocoral Animal Forests at Both Sides of Tropical America - Juan Armando Sánchez
• – Sponge Grounds as Key Marine Habitats: A Synthetic Review of Types, Structure, Functional Roles, and Conservation Concerns - Manuel Maldonado, Ricardo Aguilar, Raymond J. Bannister, James J. Bell, Kim W. Conway, Paul K. Dayton, Cristina Díaz, Julian Gutt, Michelle Kelly, Ellen L. R. Kenchington, Sally P. Leys, Shirley A. Pomponi, Hans Tore Rapp, Klaus Rützler, Ole S. Tendal, Jean Vacelet and Craig M. Young
• – Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems - Sam Kahng, Joshua M. Copus and Daniel Wagner
• – Animal Forests in Deep Coastal Bottoms and Continental Shelves of the Mediterranean Sea - Andrea Gori, Giorgio Bavestrello, Jordi Grinyó, Carlos Dominguez-Carrió, Stefano Ambroso and Marzia Bo
• – Global Biodiversity in Cold-Water Coral Reef Ecosystems - Lea-Anne Henry and J. Murray Roberts
• – Coexistence in Cold Waters: Animal Forests in Seaweed-Dominated Habitats in Southern High-Latitudes - César A. Cárdenas and Américo Montiel
• – Animal Forests in the Chilean Fjords: Discoveries, Perspectives, and Threats in Shallow and Deep Waters - Günter Försterra, Verena Häussermann and Jürgen Laudien
• – Antarctic Marine Animal Forests: Three-Dimensional Communities in Southern Ocean Ecosystems - Julian Gutt, Vonda Cummings, Paul Dayton, Enrique Isla, Anke Jentsch and Stefano Schiaparelli
• – Drawing the Line at Neglected Marine Ecosystems: Ecology of Vermetid Reefs in a Changing Ocean - Marco Milazzo, Maoz Fine, Emanuela Claudia La Marca, Cinzia Alessi and Renato Chemello
• – Where Seaweed Forests Meet Animal Forests: The Examples of Macroalgae in Coral Reefs and the Mediterranean Coralligenous Ecosystem - Charles F. Boudouresque, Aurélie Blanfuné, Mireille Harmelin-Vivien, Sébastien Personnic, Sandrine Ruitton, Thierry Thibaut and Marc Verlaque
• – Hydroids (Cnidaria, Hydrozoa): A Neglected Component of Animal Forests - Cristina Gioia Di Camillo, Giorgio Bavestrello, Carlo Cerrano, Cinzia Gravili, Stefano Piraino, Stefania Puce and Ferdinando Boero
• – Evolution of the Marine Animal Forest: EvoDevo of Corals, Sea Anemones, and Jellyfishes - Emma Rangel-Huerta, Griselda Avila-Soria and Ernesto Maldonado
• – Metabarcoding Techniques for Assessing Biodiversity of Marine Animal Forests - Owen S. Wangensteen and Xavier Turon
• – Deep-Sea Suprabenthic Communities: The Forgotten Biodiversity - Inmaculada Frutos, Angelika Brandt and Jean Claude Sorbe
• Part II: Structure and Function of the Animal Forests
• – Living in the Canopy of the Animal Forest: Physical and Biogeochemical Aspects - Katell Guizien and Marco Ghisalberti
• – Demography of Animal Forests: The Example of Mediterranean Gorgonians - Lorenzo Bramanti, Maria Carla Benedetti, Roberta Cupido, Silvia Cocito, Cristina Priori, Fabrizio Erra, Mimmo Iannelli and Giovanni Santangelo
• – Importance of Recruitment Processes in the Dynamics and Resilience of Coral Reef Assemblages - Mehdi Adjeroud, Mohsen Kayal and Lucie Penin
• – Reproductive Strategies in Marine Invertebrates and the Structuring of Marine Animal Forests - Owen S. Wangensteen, Xavier Turon and Creu Palacín
• – Growth Patterns in Long-Lived Coral Species - Frank Lartaud, Giovanni Galli, Abid Raza, Cristina Priori, Maria Carla Benedetti, Alessandro Cau, Giovanni Santangelo, Mimmo Iannelli, Cosimo Solidoro and Lorenzo Bramanti
• – The Builders of the Oceans – Part I: Coral Architecture from the Tropics to the Poles, from the Shallow to the Deep - Covadonga Orejas and Carlos Jiménez
• – The Builders of the Oceans – Part II: Corals from the Past to the Present (The Stone from the Sea) - Carlos Jiménez and Covadonga Orejas
• – Framework-Forming Scleractinian Cold-Water Corals Through Space and Time: A Late Quaternary North Atlantic Perspective - Claudia Wienberg and Jürgen Titschack
• – Seston Quality and Available Food: Importance in the Benthic Biogeochemical Cycles - Carme Huguet
• – Activity Rhythm Measurement in Suspension Feeders - Jean-Claude Duchêne
• – Filter-Feeding Zoobenthos and Hydrodynamics - Hans Ulrik Riisgård and Poul S. Larsen
• – Energetics, Particle Capture, and Growth Dynamics of Benthic Suspension Feeders - Kenneth Sebens, Gianluca Sarà and Michael Nishizaki
• – Benthic-Pelagic Coupling: New Perspectives in the Animal Forests - Sergio Rossi, Martina Coppari and Núria Viladrich
• – Symbiotic Versus Nonsymbiotic Octocorals: Physiological and Ecological Implications - Nadine Schubert, Darren Brown and Sergio Rossi
• – Trophic Ecology and Habitat Provision in Cold-Water Coral Ecosystems - Pål Buhl-Mortensen, Lene Buhl-Mortensen and Autun Purser
• Part III: Animal Forests Under Threat
• – Animal Forests Through Time: Historical Data to Understand Present Changes in Marine Ecosystems - Ruth H. Thurstan, John M. Pandolfi and Philine S. E. zu Ermgassen
• – Ecosystem-Based Management: Opportunities and Challenges for Application in the Ocean Forest - Jake Rice and Anthony D. M. Smith
• – The Impact of Anthropogenic Activity on Cold-Water Corals - Stefán Áki Ragnarsson, Julian Mariano Burgos, Tina Kutti, Inge van den Beld, Hrönn Egilsdóttir, Sophie Arnaud-Haond and Anthony Grehan
• – Harvesting and Collection of Animal Forest Species - Alison M. Jones, Daniel J. Thornhill and Anthony J. Roelofs
• – Impact of Bottom Fishing on Animal Forests: Science, Conservation, and Fisheries Management - Hilmar Hinz
• – Genetic Connectivity and Conservation of Temperate and Cold-Water Habitat-Forming Corals - Federica Costantini, Anna Maria Addamo, Annie Machordom and Marco Abbiati
• – Contrasting Effects of Ocean Acidification on Coral Reef “Animal Forests” Versus Seaweed “Kelp Forests” - Steeve Comeau and Christopher E. Cornwall
• – Octocoral Diseases in a Changing Ocean - Ernesto Weil, Caroline S. Rogers and Aldo Croquer
• – Conservation and Management of Vulnerable Marine Benthic Ecosystems - Ricardo Aguilar, Allison L. Perry and Javier López
• – The Animal Forest and Its Socio-Ecological Connections to Land and Coastal Ecosystems - Jesús Ernesto Arias-González, Andrea Rivera-Sosa, Jaime Zaldívar-Rae, Christian Alva-Basurto and Camilo Cortés-Useche
• – Resilience of the Marine Animal Forest: Lessons from Maldivian Coral Reefs After the Mass Mortality of 1998 - Carlo Nike Bianchi, Carla Morri, Roberta Lasagna, Monica Montefalcone, Giulia Gatti, Valeriano Parravicini and Alessio Rovere
• – Ecosystem Functions and Services of the Marine Animal Forests - Chiara Paoli, Monica Montefalcone, Carla Morri, Paolo Vassallo and Carlo Nike Bianchi
• – Restoration of the Animal Forests: Harnessing Silviculture Biodiversity Concepts for Coral Transplantation - Yael B. Horoszowski-Fridman and Baruch Rinkevich