Coastal ecosystems are multidisciplinary research topics encompassing the structure, function, and dynamics of biological communities and physical environments at the land–sea interface, including salt marshes, mangroves, seagrass meadows, tidal flats, estuaries, rocky shores, and coastal dunes. Scientific study focuses on biogeochemical cycles, primary productivity, trophic interactions, sediment transport, and hydrodynamic forcing (tides, waves, currents) that shape habitat distribution and resilience. Research also examines nutrient loading, contaminant fate, habitat fragmentation, and climate-driven stressors such as sea-level rise, ocean acidification, and warming, often integrating remote sensing, numerical modeling, and long-term ecological monitoring to quantify ecosystem services and assess vulnerability to anthropogenic impacts.
Over the past 20 years, nearly half of commercially important Mediterranean fish species have shifted their distribution due to climate change, causing marine species to move away from their historical locations. These significant ...
Ecology
Apr 13, 2026
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9
There is an explosion of color beneath the surface in Raja Ampat, a remote archipelago in eastern Indonesia where sharks, mantas and sea turtles glide alongside vast schools of fish through sea fan coral formations, some ...
Ecology
Apr 9, 2026
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26
Each winter, thousands of blacktip sharks (Carcharhinus limbatus) migrate to the clear, shallow waters off South Florida, where they are easily spotted from the air—a movement that coincides with seasonal beach nourishment ...
Plants & Animals
Apr 8, 2026
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327
Snapper are central to coastal life across southern Australia, supporting fisheries, local businesses, and regional tourism. New Flinders University research has found that although snapper populations across southern Australia ...
Ecology
Apr 7, 2026
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33
Mangrove forests are natural wonders that protect coastal areas, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions. They are able to dissipate wave energy and limit flooding, which can even mitigate tsunamis and coastal inundations ...
Earth Sciences
Apr 3, 2026
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39
Researchers from the University of Maine, in partnership with the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR), are analyzing more than 20 years of fishery survey data from the Gulf of Maine to examine how environmental change ...
Ecology
Apr 1, 2026
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8
Communities dependent on Canada's blue economy will face growing challenges to their livelihoods as climate change fundamentally alters the country's marine environment, according to new Simon Fraser University research. ...
Environment
Mar 31, 2026
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10
For decades, scientists have observed a clear pattern across the natural world: biodiversity tends to be higher near the equator and lower toward the poles. Known as the latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG), this trend holds ...
Evolution
Mar 31, 2026
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9
Small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, newly hatched sea turtles emerged on a Gabonese beach to embark on the treacherous 10-meter (33-foot) scramble across the sand to the ocean.
Ecology
Mar 27, 2026
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19
Rising sea levels are contributing to a phenomenon called "ghost forests," which are groups of dead and dying standing trees that have been drowned by intruding saltwater. And all along the eastern U.S. where there used to ...
Ecology
Mar 26, 2026
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9
