Examining Human Impacts on Global Biogeochemical Cycling Via the Coastal Zone and Ocean Margins

Abstract

Biogeochemical cycling, like most earth system functions, is increasingly subject to human perturbation. Nowhere is this more evident than in the coastal zone, the interphase domain between land, ocean, and atmosphere. The coast and its ecosystems, including wetlands, estuaries, marshes, mangroves, seagrasses, and coral reefs, are continuously modified by human activities through changing land and water uses, and increasing waste loading from economic activities. This chapter aims to provide a most recent synoptic and by no means comprehensive overview of human impacts on the biogeochemical transformations that coastal ecosystems, healthy or otherwise, perform for ecosystem integrity and human well-being. How humans have transformed the planet’s behavior through their activities along the catchment–coast continuum is discussed in Sect. 9.2. Large-scale ecosystem impacts resulting from these activities are the focus of Sect. 9.3. Finally, Sect. 9.4 examines approaches and innovations that may enable human institutions to enhance human well-being as well as ecosystem health across the water continuum.