Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Anthropogenic Impacts

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Estuaries

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series ((EESS))

Definition

Anthropogenic impacts in this volume refer to the adverse effects of human activities on estuarine environments.

Introduction

Estuaries rank among the most heavily impacted aquatic ecosystems on earth, being affected by a wide array of anthropogenic activities both in adjoining coastal watersheds and in the water bodies themselves (Kennish, 2002). Most of these activities can be linked to ongoing rapid human population growth and development of the coastal zone. For example, about four billion people live within 60 km of the world’s coastlines (Kennish, 2002; Kennish et al., 2008). In the USA, more than 125 million people now reside in coastal counties nationwide. People inhabiting low-lying coastal areas are more vulnerable to sea-level rise, coastal storms and storm surges, inundation and flooding, and other coastal hazards.

While many people simply prefer to live near the ocean, others inhabit the coastal zone for economic opportunity involving tourism, recreational and...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 499.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 599.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Alongi, D. M., 1998. Coastal Ecosystem Processes. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, I. C., Stanhope, J. W., Hardison, A. K., and McGlathery, K. J., 2010. Sources and fates of nitrogen in Virginia coastal bays. In Kennish, M. J., and Paerl, H. W. (eds.), Coastal Lagoons: Habitats of Environmental Change. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, Taylor and Francis, pp. 43–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boon, J. D., Brubaker, J. M., and Forrest, D. R., 2010. Chesapeake Bay land subsidence and sea-level change: an evaluation of past and present trends and future outlook. Special Report No. 425, Applied Marine Science and Ocean Engineering, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Gloucester Point, VA.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bricker, S. B., Longstaff, B., Dennison, W., Jones, A., Boicourt, K., Wicks, C., and Woerner, J., 2007. Effects of Nutrient Enrichment in the Nation’s Estuaries: A Decade of Change. Silver Spring, MD: NOAA, National Ocean Service, Special Projects Office and National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burkholder, J. M., Tomasko, D. A., and Touchette, B. W., 2007. Seagrasses and eutrophication. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 350, 42–72.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlton, J. T., and Geller, J. B., 1993. Ecological roulette: the global transport of nonindigenous marine organisms. Science, 261, 78–82.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, A. N., and Carlton, J. T., 1998. Accelerating invasion rate in a highly invaded estuary. Science, 279, 555–562.

    Google Scholar 

  • DeLaune, R. D., and Pezeshki, S. R., 1994. The influence of subsidence and saltwater intrusion on coastal marsh stability: Louisiana Gulf coast, USA. Journal of Coastal Research Special Issue, 12, 77–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diaz, R. J., and Rosenberg, R., 1995. Marine benthic hypoxia: a review of its ecological effects and the behavioral responses of benthic macrofauna. Oceanography and Marine Biology Annual Review, 33, 245–303.

    Google Scholar 

  • Diaz, R. J., and Rosenberg, R., 2008. Spreading dead zones and consequences for marine ecosystems. Science, 321, 926–929.

    Google Scholar 

  • Engelman, R., Pauly, D., Zeller, D., Prinn, R. G., Pinnegar, J. K., and Polunin, N. V. C., 2008. Introduction: climate, people, fisheries, and aquatic ecosystems. In Polunin, N. V. C. (ed.), Aquatic Ecosystems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fries, J. S., Noble, R. T., Kelly, G. M., and Hsieh, J. L., 2007. Storm impacts on potential pathogens in estuaries. Eos Transactions American Geophysical Union, 88(8), 93–95, doi:10.1029/2007EO080002.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galloway, J. N., Townsend, A. R., Erisman, J. W., Bekunda, M., Cai, Z., Freney, J. R., Martinelli, L. A., Seitzinger, S. P., and Sutton, M. A., 2008. Transformation of the nitrogen cycle: recent trends, questions, and potential solutions. Science, 320, 889–892.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howarth, R. W., 2008. Coastal nitrogen pollution: a review of sources and trends globally and regionally. Harmful Algae, 8, 14–20.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howarth, R. W., Boyer, E. W., Pabich, W. J., and Galloway, J. N., 2002a. Nitrogen use in the United States from 1961–2000 and potential future trends. Ambio, 31, 88–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Howarth, R. W., Sharpley, A., and Walker, D., 2002b. Sources of nutrient pollution to coastal waters in the United States: implications for achieving coastal water quality goals. Estuaries, 25, 656–676.

    Google Scholar 

  • IPCC, 2007. Fourth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2007. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • IPCC, 2013. Fifth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2013. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennish, M. J., 1992. Ecology of Estuaries: Anthropogenic Effects. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennish, M. J. (ed.), 1997. Practical Handbook of Estuarine and Marine Pollution. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennish, M. J., 1998. Trace metal-sediment dynamics in estuaries: pollution assessment. Reviews of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, 155, 69–110.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennish, M. J. (ed.), 2000. Estuary Restoration and Maintenance. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennish, M. J. (ed.), 2001a. Practical Handbook of Marine Science, 3rd edn. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennish, M. J., 2001b. Coastal salt marsh systems in the U.S.: a review of anthropogenic impacts. Journal of Coastal Research, 17, 731–748.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennish, M. J., 2002. Environmental threats and environmental future of estuaries. Environmental Conservation, 29, 78–107.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennish, M. J., and de Jonge, V. N., 2011. Chemical introductions to the systems: diffuse and nonpoint source pollution from chemicals (nutrients: eutrophication). In Kennish, M. J., and Elliott, M. (eds.), Treatise on Estuarine and Coastal Science, Vol. 8, Human-induced Problems (Uses and Abuses). Oxford: Elsevier. Treatise on Estuarine and Coastal Science, pp. 113–148.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennish, M. J., and Paerl, H. W., 2010. Coastal lagoons: critical habitats of environmental change. In Kennish, M. J., and Paerl, H. W. (eds.), Coastal Lagoons: Critical Habitats of Environmental Change. Boca Raton, FL: Taylor and Francis, pp. 1–15.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennish, M. J., Livingston, R. J., Raffaelli, D., and Reise, K., 2008. Environmental future of estuaries. In Polunin, N. (ed.), Aquatic Ecosystems: Trends and Global Prospects. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 188–208.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennish, M. J., Brush, M. J., and Moore, K. A., 2014a. Drivers of change in shallow coastal photic systems: an introduction to a special issue. Estuaries and Coasts, 37(Suppl. 1), S3–S19, doi:10.1007/s1223701497794.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennish, M. J., Spahn, A., and Sakowicz, G. P., 2014b. Sentinel site development of a major salt marsh system in the Mid-Atlantic region. Open Journal of Ecology, 4, 77–86, doi:10.4236/oje.2014.43010.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipp, E. K., Farrah, S. A., and Rose, J. B., 2001. Assessment and impact of microbial fecal pollution and human enteric pathogens in a coastal community. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 42, 286–293.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, K. A., Shields, E. C., Parish, D. B., and Orth, R. J., 2012. Eelgrass survival in two contrasting systems: role of turbidity and summer water temperatures. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 448, 247–258.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore, K. A., Shields, E. C., and Parrish, D. B., 2014. Impacts of varying estuarine temperature and light conditions on Zostera marina (eelgrass) and its interactions with Ruppia maritima (widgeon grass). Estuaries and Coasts, 37(Suppl. 1), S20–S30.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Research Council, 1993. Managing Wastewater in Coastal Urban Areas. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • New, M., 2002. Trends in freshwater and marine production systems. In Pauly, D., and Palomares, M. L. (eds.), Production Systems in Fishery Management. Vancouver, BC: University of British Columbia, Fisheries Center Research Report No. 10 (8), pp. 21–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rabalais, N. N., 2002. Nitrogen in aquatic ecosystems. Ambio, 31, 102–112.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ribic, C. A., 1998. Use of indicator items to monitor marine debris on a New Jersey beach from 1991 to 1996. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 36, 887–895.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, D. G., and Day, R. H., 1994. Color- and form-dependent loss of plastic micro-detritus from the North Pacific Ocean. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 28, 39–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shipley, F. S., and Kiesling, R. W. (eds.), 1994. The State of the Bay: A Characterization of the Galveston Bay Ecosystem. Webster, TX: Galveston Bay National Estuary Program. Publication, GBNEP-44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skinner, L., 2012. A long view on climate sensitivity. Science, 337, 917–919.

    Google Scholar 

  • Teal, J. M., Best, R., Caffrey, J., Hopkinson, C. S., McKee, K. L., Morris, J. T., Newman, S., and Orem, B., 2012. Mississippi River freshwater diversions in Southern Louisiana: effects on wetland vegetation, soils, and elevation. In Lewitus, A. J., Croom, M., Davison, T., Kidwell, D. M., Kleiss, B. A., Pahl, J. W., and Swarzenski, C. M. (eds.), Final Report to the State of Louisiana and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers through the Louisiana Coastal Area Science and Technology Program, Coordinated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Silver Spring, MD.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, 71 Dudley Road, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901, USA

    Michael J. Kennish

Authors
  1. Michael J. Kennish
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael J. Kennish .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

    Michael J. Kennish

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this entry

Cite this entry

Kennish, M.J. (2016). Anthropogenic Impacts. In: Kennish, M.J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Estuaries. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-8801-4_246

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation