The human ecological footprint now extends to the entire globe, and human impacts are the dominant feature of many ecosystems, resulting in our current era being coined the 'anthropocene'. This is particularly apparent in coastal ecosystems as human populations are increasing rapidly in coastal cities and the ecosystem services in these areas are rapidly being compromised.

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In January 2003, the US Environmental Protection Agency sponsored a "roundtable discussion" to develop a consensus on the relationship between eutrophication and harmful algal blooms (HABs), specifically targeting those relationships for which management actions may be appropriate. Academic, federal, and state agency representatives were in attendance. The following seven statements were unanimously adopted by attendees based on review and analysis of current as well as pertinent previous data:

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Groundwater resources are being overexploited in arid and semi-arid environments globally, which necessitates a deeper understanding of the roles that groundwater plays in earth system processes. Of particular importance is the elucidation of groundwater's effect on the generation of atmospheric dust.

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1. Unpredictable, extreme climatic events (e.g. droughts) can potentially destabilize aquatic communities. From 1998 to 2002, southwestern Georgia, U.S.A., experienced the third worst drought of the last 100 years, leading to loss of surface flow in many small streams.

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The influence of climate on Puget Sound oceanographic properties is investigated on seasonal to interannual timescales using continuous profile data at 16 stations from 1993 to 2002 and records of sea surface temperature (SST) and sea surface salinity (SSS) from 1951 to 2002. Principal components analyses of profile data identify indices representing 42%, 58%, and 56% of the total variability at depth-station combinations for temperature, salinity, and density, respectively…

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The utility of library-based ribotyping methods for a very small study area was evaluated through comparison of local results to libraries with differing spatial and temporal scales. Ribotyping of Escherichia coli isolates was used to evaluate sources of fecal pollution at a coastal golf course in Beaufort County, South Carolina.

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In China, agricultural residues (particularly from rice) are widely used for energy and other applications, albeit on a localized scale and often at poor rates of efficiency. if some portion of this biomass were to be reallocated and transported to central biomass energy facilities, an initial component of the design process would be to gain an understanding of the spatial distribution of biomass production.

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Coastal ecosystems including coral reefs, mangrove forests, seagrass meadows, and salt marshes are being lost at alarming rates, and increased scientific understanding of causes has failed to stem these losses. Coastal habitats receive contrasting research effort, with 60% of all of the published research carried out on coral reefs, compared to 11–14% of the records for each of salt marshes, mangrove forests, and seagrass meadows.

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In many coastal locations, seagrass meadows are part of a greater seascape that includes both marine and terrestrial elements, each linked to the other via the foraging patterns of consumers (both predators and herbivores), and the passive drift of seagrass propagules, leaves, roots and rhizomes, and seagrass-associated macroalgal detritus. With seagrasses declining in many regions, the linkages between seagrass meadows and other habitats are being altered and diminished.

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Human sewage and septic waste are significant sources of nutrient loading to many aquatic ecosystems. Ecologically relevant nitrogen sources can be traced by analyzing nitrogen stable isotope ratios (δ15N signatures) in aquatic plants. Elevated δ15N signatures can suggest increased uptake of nitrogen derived from human and/or animal waste. In the current study, Vallisneria americana, a freshwater angiosperm, was collected from several locations in Upper Saranac Lake, NY, USA.

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