This week’s topics shed light on the interconnectedness of many different factors in determining coastal features and dynamics. I am a systems-minded person, so I really enjoyed the process of trying to understand how the many factors and features work together. The role of biodiversity and biological activity, in particular, were interesting to me.

This led me to think about how climate change and threats to biodiversity may impact coastal processes and, consequently, impact the features of coastal zones. An article I found, “Global Warming is Starving West Coast Waters of Oxygen”, raised further questions in my mind about the nature of climate change and biodiversity in coastal areas. Concentrations of oxygen and minerals are influenced by a confounding array of natural and human factors, and they haven’t been well measured, meaning that there is a great deal to be learned still about how coastal environments are changed.

This led me to a bit of conjecture. Although our course discusses how warm waters foster greater biological activity in coastal areas, this article highlights the downsides to warming waters and how, as atmospheric pollution warms the planet and its seas, oxygen levels in oceans decline, making it harder for the bottom-dwelling fish to breathe. This could have a formative effect on coastal areas, as fish and other creatures die from low oxygen supply in the water, there is an increased supply of minerals and organic detritus, which may influence coastal processes.

Conversely, since many coastal areas feature reefs, which are structures made of calcium deposits from small creatures, warming of coastal waters may result in reef degradation and, consequently, less fortification of coasts and hastened erosion. Ultimately, this week’s course material raised many questions in my mind about how different processes are interconnected and how fragile coastal systems actually are.

 

References:

http://www.climatecentral.org/news/global-warming-starving-waters-of-oxygen-20303