Book contents
13 - A research agenda for coastal biodiversity conservation
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2014
Summary
Overview
Coastal ecosystems make up 4% of the Earth’s land area and 11% of its oceans, but they house > 30% of the global human population (UNEP, 2006; Barbier, 2012). The settlement of coastal ecosystems is expected to increase exponentially over the next 100 years, with many people moving to “mega-cities” that are located near the coast (UNEP, 2006). Given these numbers, it should not be surprising that coastal habitats are disappearing at a very rapid rate (Barbier, 2012). This rate of loss will surely increase as the remaining coastal habitats are “squeezed” between rising sea levels on one side and development on the other (Jackson & McIlvenny, 2011; see also Chapters 3, 7, and 10). We can ill afford to lose these habitats given the substantial services they provide society (Barbier et al., 2011), and the growing recognition of this dilemma has directed much-needed attention on finding ways to accommodate people on coastlines without losing key services (Chan et al., 2006; Halpern et al., 2012). However, the role of biodiversity in this conservation dilemma has thus far been murky. We assembled this volume to begin to fill this gap in knowledge. The chapters within have detailed the species associated with key coastal habitats, their links to ecosystem services, and the influence of various stressors on their persistence. There are several cognizant themes that emerge from reading these chapters, some of which we reviewed in Chapter 1 (e.g. the need to conserve the connections between habitats). Here we broaden the discussion and highlight three research agendas that can serve as mileposts going forward.
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- Information
- Coastal Conservation , pp. 371 - 379Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014
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