Coastal plant communities are being transformed or lost because of sea level rise (SLR) and land-use change. In conjunction with SLR, the Florida Everglades ecosystem has undergone large-scale drainage and restoration, altering coastal vegetation throughout south Florida. To understand how coastal plant communities are changing over time, accurate mapping techniques are needed that can define p...

Bacterioplankton communities are deeply diverse within and across environments, yet also display repeatable patterns over seasonal and annual time scales. I assessed patterns of bacterioplankton community variability across the Columbia River coastal margin over space and time. Coastal zones encompass a complex spectrum of environmental gradients, which impact the composition of bacterioplankto...

in less than 150 words) The highly productive waters of Madagascar’s ‘Deep South’ are critical feeding grounds for the highly migratory species of the region, including seabirds and cetaceans. It is characterized by large coastal dunes, lagoons and coastal ponds, forming unique coastal habitats and wetlands; shallow benthic communities dominated by hard substrate communities, with small isolate...

Fisheries support livelihood of over half a billion of people globally. Many of these people live in coastal regions of developing countries; and have limited capacity to adapt and build resilience in the face of climate change.  This research assesses the biophysical and socioeconomic characteristics of fishers in four coastal communities, Komenda, Elmina, Cape coast and Morree, in Ghana. Stru...

The structure of many marine ecosystems has changed substantially during recent decades, as a result of overexploitation, climate change and eutrophication. Despite of the apparent ecological and economical importance of coastal areas and communities, this aspect has received relatively little attention in coastal systems. Here we assess the temporal development of zoobenthos communities in two...

Nutritional status of children in two poor communities was studied using conventional anthropometric techniques. A total of 944 children, of which 246 boys and 242 girls in coastal area and 213 boys and 249 girls in the non-coastal area formed the study group. With measurements of height and weight, the prevalence of various forms of growth retardation was determined in two communities. Inspite...

The 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami had major effects on coastal communities and ecosystems. An assessment of coastlines after the tsunami indicates that coastal vegetation such as mangroves and beach forests helped to provide protection and reduce effects on adjacent communities. In recent years, mangroves and other coastal vegetation have been cleared or degraded along many coastlines, ...

Soil moisture is a key limiting resource in arid and semi-arid environments for woody shrub species. We assessed if three arid communities differed in their level of dry season soil moisture content and if the dominant species in these communities differed in their ability to use soil moisture. Water potential of all of the dominant woody plant species occurring in chaparral, coastal sage, and ...