coastal ecosystem Articles
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10 messages for 2010 - coastal ecosystems
Key messages: 1) As an interface between land and sea, European coastlines provide vital resources for wildlife, but also for the economy and human health and well-being. 2) Multiple pressures, including habitat loss and degradation, pollution, climate change and overexploitation of fish stocks, affect coastal ecosystems. 3) Coastal habitat types and species of Community interest are at risk in ...
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A 50-years record of dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethanes and hexachloro-cyclohexanes in lake sediments and penguin droppings on King George Island, Maritime Antarctic
Since the ban on the use of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) such as dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) and hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) in agriculture, their levels have generally dropped. In a number of cases, however, the levels of these OCPs were found to be unchanging or even increasing after the ban. With the aim to unveil the possible causes of these exceptions, we collected two lake ...
By IOS Press
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The Continuous Degradation of Europe`s Coasts Threatens European Living Standards
Living by the sea is very attractive. People picture coasts as an immutable asset, yet damaging and irreversible changes to coastal ecosystems continue unabated. Available trends show that changes in land use in coastal areas outstrip those seen elsewhere; for instance, the growth of artificial surfaces along Europe's coasts is increasing at a rate one third faster than in inland areas. These ...
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Ultraviolet radiation shapes seaweed communities
Stratospheric ozone depletion and the concomitant increase in irradiance of ultraviolet-B radiation (UVB) at the earth’s surface represent major threats to terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In costal rocky shore environments, seaweedsconstitute a group of organisms of particular significance to ecosystem function. Thus, impairment of seaweed performance by UVB-exposure may result in severe ...
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Using Mass Spectrometry to Quantify Nitrogen Pollution in Coastal Ecosystems
Pollution in coastal ecosystems is becoming increasingly problematic, causing harm to animals, humans, and the environment. It destroys animal habitats, results in bacterial and viral pathogens that cause multiple illnesses, and can reduce economic growth along coastal regions. Nitrogen (N) containing species such as nitrates or ammonium can be highly detrimental to coastal marine ecosystems. ...
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Nutrient dynamics in European water systems - the management perspective emerging from ELOISE, a European cluster of land - ocean interaction studies
The European ELOISE (European Land Ocean Interaction Studies) cluster (>60 projects) is the world's largest research initiative on land - ocean interactions. Beside its scientific goals, ELOISE is also meant to contribute directly to coastal zone management and thus to European coastal policy. Most of the ELOISE results have been gathered in digests that are made available on the Internet to all ...
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Making Economic Valuation Count for Coastal Ecosystems in the Caribbean
People and economies across the Caribbean are dependent on coastal ecosystems—including coral reefs, mangroves, and beaches. These ecosystems provide critical habitat to commercial fisheries, attract tourists from around the world, and protect coastal communities and infrastructure from the ravages of tropical storms. But despite their importance, these ecosystems are under threat from ...
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Coastal Capital: Ecosystem Valuation for Decision Making in the Caribbean
Executive Summary Tropical coastal ecosystems—including coral reefs, mangroves, beaches, and seagrasses—provide a range of valuable goods and services to people and economies across the Caribbean. These ecosystems contribute to tourism, fisheries, shoreline protection, and more. However, despite their importance, coastal ecosystems are under threat from numerous human pressures, ...
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The T assessment tool: a simple metric for assessing multidisciplinary graduate education
Although there is considerable activity in developing assessment protocols for undergraduate learning, there are few established models for assessment of student progress in multidisciplinary doctoral-level graduate education. To resolve this impediment in tracking graduate student development, we created a simple assessment tool based on the concept of T competency that allows graduate students ...
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Effects of benthos, temperature, and dose on the fate of hexabromocyclododecane in experimental coastal ecosystems
The authors studied the fate of the brominated flame retardant hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD) added in a particulate suspension to experimental ecosystems assembled from brackish (Baltic Sea) coastal bays. Two experiments examined how benthic macrofauna (over 21 d) and increased temperature (14 d) affected HBCDD concentrations and fractionation of α, β, and γ diastereomers in the water, ...
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Mapping the Impact of Sewage on Our Coastlines
A new map helps us visualize how sewage enters coastal ecosystems Most studies of how we impact coastal ecosystems have focused on agricultural runoff, trash, and oil spills in the ocean. However, human wastewater discharges routinely flow into coastal ecosystems too, potentially causing public health, economic, and ecological impacts. Researchers have shed some light on this problem with a new ...
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Pollution status and sustainable management of Xiamen Bay in China: a brief review
The continuous increase in population coupled with economic growth, rapid urbanisation and infrastructure development have resulted in the pollution of the marine environment of Xiamen Bay. Its ecosystem has become vulnerable to pollution and chemical pollutants which may have changed the coastal ecosystem's biogeochemistry. This study identifies the pollution sources, status and pollution effect ...
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Climate Change Adaptation in Grenada. Water Resources, Coastal Systems and Renewable Energy
This study serves as a starting point for the development of a more in-depth and comprehensive analysis of climate change impacts and adaptation programmes for Grenada and other Small Island Developing States (SIDS). The study focuses on three priority areas: water resources, coastal ecosystems and renewable energy systems. It identifies the best potential courses of action to hedge for and adapt ...
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Influence of Coastal Economic Valuations in the Caribbean: Enabling Conditions and Lessons Learned
Across the Caribbean, national economies are heavily dependent on coastal ecosystem services. Coral reefs, mangroves, and other coastal ecosystems provide fish habitat, attract tourists, and protect shorelines from storm damage. However, coastal habitats continue to degrade due to local and global pressures. For example, more than 75 percent of the Caribbean’s coral reefs are currently ...
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Threats and human influence on coastal ecosystem of Southern India
Populations of the majority of fish species showed drastic reduction over the past five decades in west coast of India. We conducted an intensive study of Aghanashini estuary for water quality and fish diversity in west coast of India. Coastal ecosystems are impacted by many stressors and are continually subjected to threats from multiple stresses imposed mostly by human activities predominantly ...
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NMR Investigations in Coastal Ecosystems by Darya Morozov
Coastal ecosystems play an important role in interfacing between marine and terrestrial environments. These systems host complex dynamic processes associated with strong physical gradients between freshwater and saltwater, ground water and surface water, and between high and low permeability soils. Therefore, the structure and stability of coastal environments have a critical impact on ...
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Managing Great Lakes Water Levels Adaptively in Response to Changing Climate Conditions
The Laurentian Great Lakes contain an abundance of fresh water, collectively representing approximately 20% of the fresh surface water available globally. Despite the enormity of this resource, water levels and flows in the Great Lakes are subject to fluctuations caused by changing climate conditions that have cascading impacts on the coastal ecosystem and the regional economy. Proactive ...
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Marine phanerogams as a tool in the evaluation of marine trace-metal contamination: an example from the Mediterranean
New ways of evaluating the quality of the coastal marine environment in a practical, dependable and cost-efficient manner are continually sought. It would thus appear of some value to make use of bioindicator species that reflect both the average levels and the temporal variations of contaminants at a given site. Owing to their extensive distribution in the littoral zone and the ecological ...
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A horizon scan of global conservation issues for 2015
This paper presents the results of our sixth annual horizon scan, which aims to identify phenomena that may have substantial effects on the global environment, but are not widely known or well understood. A group of professional horizon scanners, researchers, practitioners, and a journalist identified 15 topics via an iterative, Delphi-like process. Wetlands International was part of the horizon ...
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Eutrophication: Sources and drivers of nutrient pollution
Nutrient over-enrichment of freshwater and coastal ecosystems, or eutrophication, is a rapidly growing environmental crisis. Worldwide, the number of coastal areas impacted by eutrophication stands at over 500. In coastal areas, occurrences of dead zones, which are caused by eutrophic conditions, have increased from 10 documented cases in 1960 to 405 documented cases in 2008. In addition, many of ...
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