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Depletion, Degradation, and Recovery Potential of Estuaries and Coastal Seas
Heike K. Lotze,1*Hunter S. Lenihan,2Bruce J. Bourque,3Roger H. Bradbury,4Richard G. Cooke,5Matthew C. Kay,2Susan M. Kidwell,6Michael X. Kirby,7Charles H. Peterson,8Jeremy B. C. Jackson5,9
Estuarine and coastal transformation is as old as civilizationyet has dramatically accelerated over the past 150 to 300 years.Reconstructed time lines, causes, and consequences of changein 12 once diverse and productive estuaries and coastal seasworldwide show similar patterns: Human impacts have depleted>90% of formerly important species, destroyed >65% ofseagrass and wetland habitat, degraded water quality, and acceleratedspecies invasions. Twentieth-century conservation efforts achievedpartial recovery of upper trophic levels but have so far failedto restore former ecosystem structure and function. Our resultsprovide detailed historical baselines and quantitative targetsfor ecosystem-based management and marine conservation.
1 Biology Department, Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, Halifax, NS, Canada B3H 4J1. 2 Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, Bren Hall 3428, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106–5131, USA. 3 Department of Anthropology, 155 Pettengill Hall, Bates College, Lewiston, ME 04240, USA. 4 Resource Management in Asia-Pacific Program, Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia. 5 Center for Tropical Paleoecology and Archeology, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Unit 0948, APO AA 34002–0948, Republic of Panama. 6 Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 5734 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA. 7 Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Museum Road, P.O. Box 117800, Gainesville, FL 32611–7800, USA. 8 Institute of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Morehead City, NC 28557, USA. 9 Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093–0244, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: hlotze{at}dal.ca
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