Book excerpt: The Ecology of the Indonesian Seas distills for the first time the information found in thousands of scholarly works relevant to an understanding of the sustainable use of marine and coastal resources in these islands&8212;many of them available up to now only in Dutch, German or Indonesian. It is an invaluable tool for government planners, resource managers, ecologists, university students, scuba divers, and all those with an interest in the sea. The second volume discusses the origins, formation and distribution of various reef types in the Indonesian Archipelago, and provides new estimates on their extent. The second volume also provides a review of the ecology of Indonesian seagrass, mangrove and open-ocean ecosystems. The chapter on marine biodiversity focuses on a number of marine and coastal habitats and threatened marine organisms. The final two chapters discuss what recent effects the human race has had on marine resources, and what we can do to protect and preserve our marine and coastal zones for generations to come.