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.
In the crystalline waters off Kenya's coast, coral reefs are thriving—evidence of a rare good-news story in the battle to protect oceans from the ravages of climate change.
Ecology
Jun 16, 2026
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11
Around the world, ocean warming is causing fish to move poleward in search of cooler water.
Plants & Animals
Jun 12, 2026
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23
Oxygen depletion in the western Baltic Sea is not uncommon. Oxygen-poor conditions regularly occur in deeper waters, placing stress on marine ecosystems and, in extreme cases, causing fish kills. As ocean temperatures continue ...
Environment
Jun 11, 2026
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7
People's knee-jerk reaction to seeing death in nature is often not positive. The burn scar left by wildfire on a once-forested hillside, or a ghostly white coral reef, may evoke tragedy and despair. But in nature, most plants ...
Ecology
Jun 11, 2026
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6
Trees, grasses, corals, and oysters are foundational to the structure of an ecosystem while they are alive. But new research led by the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at the University ...
Plants & Animals
Jun 10, 2026
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9
Farmed oysters are mixing with and potentially adding to populations of wild oysters—a once-abundant species in New York's estuaries and rivers that has declined drastically over the last century. A new study, published in ...
Ecology
Jun 9, 2026
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7
New research from the University of Victoria (UVic) has found that some kelp forests around Vancouver Island were disappearing far earlier than scientists previously thought, highlighting that climate change has been altering ...
Ecology
Jun 8, 2026
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34
With World Oceans Day coming up on June 8, policymakers and researchers will be thinking about the state of the ocean and efforts to protect marine environments.
Environment
Jun 5, 2026
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9
Mangrove forests, once considered one of the world's most threatened coastal ecosystems, are showing signs of recovery worldwide, according to new research from Tulane University that finds decades of losses largely offset ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 4, 2026
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29
Mangroves could store less carbon—and even begin releasing it—as sea levels rise, suggests new research in Earth's Future. Mangroves are made up of salt-tolerant plants that grow in coastal areas. They cover less than 1% ...
Earth Sciences
Jun 3, 2026
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26
