Sedimentary coasts with their unique forms of life and productive ecosystems are one of the most threatened parts of the biosphere. This volume analyzes and compares ecological structures and processes at sandy beaches, tidal mudflats and in shallow coastal waters all around the world. Analyses of local processes are paired with comparisons between distant shores, across latitudinal gradients or between separate biogeographic provinces. Emphasis is given to suspension feeders in coastal mud and sand, to biogenic stabilizations and disturbances in coastal sediments, to seagrass beds and faunal assemblages across latitudes and oceans, to recovery dynamics in benthic communities, shorebird predation, and to experimental approaches to the biota of sedimentary shores. INDICE = From the contents: Benthic Suspension Feeders as Determinants of Ecosystem Structure and Function in Shallow Coastal Waters.Dynamics of Spatial and Temporal Complexity in European and North American Soft-Bottom Mussel Beds.Suspension Feeders on Sandy Beaches.Switching Between Deposit and Suspension Feeding in Coastal Zoobenthos.Microphytobenthos in Contrasting Coastal Ecosystems.Sediment Dynamics by Bioturbating Organisms.Competitive Bioturbators on Intertidal Sand Flats in the European Wadden Sea and Ariake Sound in Japan.Biological and Physical Processes that Affect Saltmarsh Erosion and Saltmarsh Resoration.Common Structures and Properties of Seagrass Beds Fringing the Coasts of the World.The Leaf Canopy of Seagrass Beds: Faunal Community Structure and Function in a Salinity Gradient Along the Swedish Coast.Energy Flow in Benthic Assemblages of Tidal Basins: Ria Formosa (Portugal) and Sylt-Romo Bay (North Sea) Compared.