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Science 23 June 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5781, pp. 1806 - 1809
DOI: 10.1126/science.1128035
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Reports

Depletion, Degradation, and Recovery Potential of Estuaries and Coastal Seas

Heike K. Lotze,1* Hunter S. Lenihan,2 Bruce J. Bourque,3 Roger H. Bradbury,4 Richard G. Cooke,5 Matthew C. Kay,2 Susan M. Kidwell,6 Michael X. Kirby,7 Charles H. Peterson,8 Jeremy B. C. Jackson5,9

Estuarine and coastal transformation is as old as civilization yet has dramatically accelerated over the past 150 to 300 years. Reconstructed time lines, causes, and consequences of change in 12 once diverse and productive estuaries and coastal seas worldwide show similar patterns: Human impacts have depleted >90% of formerly important species, destroyed >65% of seagrass and wetland habitat, degraded water quality, and accelerated species invasions. Twentieth-century conservation efforts achieved partial recovery of upper trophic levels but have so far failed to restore former ecosystem structure and function. Our results provide detailed historical baselines and quantitative targets for 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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