The field of experimental phycology continues to grow, feeding on advances in other fields and sometimes, as in the past, contributing to them. The wealth of new literature alone would have warranted a revision of our original book, The Physiological Ecology of Seaweeds. However, the reasons for this revision – and its changes – go even deeper. In fact, the original book has been so thoroughly reworked and rewritten that we have given it a new title.

Seaweed Ecology and Physiology, like its predecessor, is intended primarily as a textbook. The rapid growth of knowledge in this field is at once exciting and daunting. Even more than in the first book, our method has been to select papers that help put together a coherent (if reticulate!) story. This book provides an entry to the literature, not a systematic literature review.

Our recent experiences in the tropics and an increasing literature on tropical algae have allowed us to redress the temperate bias of our earlier writing. Austral countries such as Australia, Chile, and South Africa have also been active in seaweed physiological ecology and have provided additional perspectives on seaweed biology.

Our teaching experiences suggested that the sequence of chapters could be improved. Chapters on communities and morphogenesis, which formerly served to review and tie together earlier themes, are now introductions to the organisms and their interactions. We have included an encapsulation of algal structure and life histories, but still expect that students using this book will have learned these subjects in more detail or will be learning about them concurrently.