Climate Change, Sea-Level Rise and Implications for Coastal and Estuarine Shoreline Management with Particular Reference to the Ecology of Intertidal Benthic Macrofauna in NW Europe
In many European estuaries, extensive areas of intertidal habitats consist of bare mudflats and sandflats that harbour a very high abundance and biomass of macrobenthic invertebrates. The high stocks of macrobenthos in turn provide important food sources for the higher trophic levels such as fish an...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2012-11-01
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| Series: | Biology |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737/1/3/597 |
| _version_ | 1797760150441820160 |
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| author | Toyonobu Fujii |
| author_facet | Toyonobu Fujii |
| author_sort | Toyonobu Fujii |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In many European estuaries, extensive areas of intertidal habitats consist of bare mudflats and sandflats that harbour a very high abundance and biomass of macrobenthic invertebrates. The high stocks of macrobenthos in turn provide important food sources for the higher trophic levels such as fish and shorebirds. Climate change and associated sea-level rise will have potential to cause changes in coastal and estuarine physical properties in a number of ways and thereby influence the ecology of estuarine dependent organisms. Although the mechanisms involved in biological responses resulting from such environmental changes are complex, the ecological effects are likely to be significant for the estuarine benthic macrofauna and hence the consumers they support. This paper reviews the utilisation patterns of estuarine intertidal habitats by shorebirds, fish and crustaceans, as well as factors affecting the distribution, abundance and biomass of estuarine macrobenthos that is known to be important food source for these estuarine predators. This study also provides simple conceptual models of the likely impacts of sea-level rise on the physical and biological elements of estuarine intertidal habitats, and implications of these results are discussed in the context of sustainable long term flood and coastal management in estuarine environments. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T18:55:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-77355f6218ce403791677d83cb674943 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2079-7737 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T18:55:33Z |
| publishDate | 2012-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Biology |
| spelling | doaj.art-77355f6218ce403791677d83cb6749432023-08-02T06:56:41ZengMDPI AGBiology2079-77372012-11-011359761610.3390/biology1030597Climate Change, Sea-Level Rise and Implications for Coastal and Estuarine Shoreline Management with Particular Reference to the Ecology of Intertidal Benthic Macrofauna in NW EuropeToyonobu FujiiIn many European estuaries, extensive areas of intertidal habitats consist of bare mudflats and sandflats that harbour a very high abundance and biomass of macrobenthic invertebrates. The high stocks of macrobenthos in turn provide important food sources for the higher trophic levels such as fish and shorebirds. Climate change and associated sea-level rise will have potential to cause changes in coastal and estuarine physical properties in a number of ways and thereby influence the ecology of estuarine dependent organisms. Although the mechanisms involved in biological responses resulting from such environmental changes are complex, the ecological effects are likely to be significant for the estuarine benthic macrofauna and hence the consumers they support. This paper reviews the utilisation patterns of estuarine intertidal habitats by shorebirds, fish and crustaceans, as well as factors affecting the distribution, abundance and biomass of estuarine macrobenthos that is known to be important food source for these estuarine predators. This study also provides simple conceptual models of the likely impacts of sea-level rise on the physical and biological elements of estuarine intertidal habitats, and implications of these results are discussed in the context of sustainable long term flood and coastal management in estuarine environments.http://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737/1/3/597sea-level risecoastal squeezebenthic macrofaunashorebirdsfishshoreline managementestuarine ecosystemsmanaged realignment |
| spellingShingle | Toyonobu Fujii Climate Change, Sea-Level Rise and Implications for Coastal and Estuarine Shoreline Management with Particular Reference to the Ecology of Intertidal Benthic Macrofauna in NW Europe Biology sea-level rise coastal squeeze benthic macrofauna shorebirds fish shoreline management estuarine ecosystems managed realignment |
| title | Climate Change, Sea-Level Rise and Implications for Coastal and Estuarine Shoreline Management with Particular Reference to the Ecology of Intertidal Benthic Macrofauna in NW Europe |
| title_full | Climate Change, Sea-Level Rise and Implications for Coastal and Estuarine Shoreline Management with Particular Reference to the Ecology of Intertidal Benthic Macrofauna in NW Europe |
| title_fullStr | Climate Change, Sea-Level Rise and Implications for Coastal and Estuarine Shoreline Management with Particular Reference to the Ecology of Intertidal Benthic Macrofauna in NW Europe |
| title_full_unstemmed | Climate Change, Sea-Level Rise and Implications for Coastal and Estuarine Shoreline Management with Particular Reference to the Ecology of Intertidal Benthic Macrofauna in NW Europe |
| title_short | Climate Change, Sea-Level Rise and Implications for Coastal and Estuarine Shoreline Management with Particular Reference to the Ecology of Intertidal Benthic Macrofauna in NW Europe |
| title_sort | climate change sea level rise and implications for coastal and estuarine shoreline management with particular reference to the ecology of intertidal benthic macrofauna in nw europe |
| topic | sea-level rise coastal squeeze benthic macrofauna shorebirds fish shoreline management estuarine ecosystems managed realignment |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2079-7737/1/3/597 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT toyonobufujii climatechangesealevelriseandimplicationsforcoastalandestuarineshorelinemanagementwithparticularreferencetotheecologyofintertidalbenthicmacrofaunainnweurope |