Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration

Around the world, fragile, coastal aquatic ecosystems are threatened by a range of factors, including pollution and eutrophication, which hinder their ability to provide ecosystem services such as water filtration, habitat, and coastal resilience to climate change. Elevated nutrient levels, the presence of pollutants, such as chemicals and heavy metals, and low levels of dissolved oxygen all negatively affect these ecosystems. Anthropogenic actions are at the root of the majority of these issues, resulting in severe damage, but also the knowledge that, with changes, this damage can be remediated and eventually entirely avoided. Damage to aquatic systems threatens both local and migratory organisms while simultaneously causing economic and societal damage as productivity levels fall and resilience to climate change is weakened. The importance of coastal lagoons in species conservation and resilience to climate change cannot be overstated, making the conservation and management of these ecosystems paramount.