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(NAS Colloquium) The Future of Evolution (2002) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

What Was Natural in the Coastal Oceans?
Pages 23-30

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From page 23...
... Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093; and Center for Tropical Paleoecology and Archeology, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 2072, Balboa, Republic of Panama Humans transformed Western Atlantic coastal marine ecosystems before modern ecological investigations began. Paleoecological, archeological, and historical reconstructions demonstrate incredible losses of large vertebrates and oysters from the entire Atlantic coast.
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From page 24...
... 1. Model of the consequences for reef corals of the increase in the sea urchin Diadema antillarum caused by overfishing of large predatory and herbivorous fishes and the subsequent mass mortality of Diadema caused by disease.
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From page 25...
... Altogether, the results from the cores demonstrate an ecological shift in the upper Chesapeake Bay from predominantly benthic to predominantly planktonic primary production that was well under way by the early 19th century. These results were corroborated by more recent observations of increasing phytoplankton biomass and decreasing submerged aquatic vegetation over the past 50-75 years (14, 81~.
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From page 27...
... Their massive physical presence and three-dimensional complexity help stabilize the physical environment and provide habitat to thousands of generally smaller associated species (6, 22, 23, 50, 57, 58, 89, 91, 114~. Once-vast populations of ecosystem engineers have now collapsed along the Western Atlantic coast from the southern Caribbean to the Gulf of Maine.
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From page 28...
... (2) Paleoecological, archeological, and historical reconstruc tions of coastal marine ecosystems provide the beset evidence for predicting ecological consequences of establishing very large scale marine reserves and other forms of rigorous protection of fisheries.
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From page 29...
... (1997) in Proceedings of the Eighth International Coral Reef Symposium, eds.
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From page 30...
... (1992) in Proceedings of the Seventh International Coral Reef Symposium, ed.
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Key Terms

  • green turtles
  • western atlantic
  • ecosystem engineers
  • coastal ecosystems
  • reef corals

  • marine ecosystems
  • seagrass beds
  • chesapeake bay
  • time lags
  • atlantic coastal

  • sea turtles
  • oyster beds
  • coastal marine
  • caribbean coral
  • marine reserves

  • seagrass meadows
  • herbivorous fishes
  • mass mortality
  • atlantic coast
  • coral reef

  • food webs
  • ecological consequences
  • sessile ecosystem
  • kelp forests
  • oyster reefs

  • ecological redundancy
  • coral communities
  • mechanized harvesting
  • diadema antillarum
  • major transition


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