CANBERRA, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Climate change and human activity are turning coastal lagoons saltier, threatening their biodiversity and ecological functions, according to research from Australia's University of Adelaide.
Coastal lagoons are essential ecosystems that support fisheries, protect shorelines from storms, and serve as critical habitats for fish, crustaceans, and migratory birds. Their productivity relies heavily on a diverse community of microbes that cycle nutrients and support rich biodiversity, said a press release from the university on Wednesday.
But rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, reduced rainfall, and sea-level rise, combined with human factors like water diversion, urban development, and groundwater depletion, are pushing lagoons toward hypersalinity, said Chris Keneally from University of Adelaide, lead author of the study, published in Earth-Science Reviews, a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal.
This shift leads to algal blooms and a dominance of salt-tolerant microbes, which disrupt key processes such as carbon cycling, nutrient retention, and greenhouse gas emissions, Keneally said.
"A single hot, dry summer, like the one we have recently experienced, can completely shift this important habitat into a salty, green soup," reducing biodiversity and increasing risks of fish kills, toxic algal blooms, and loss of coastal flood protection, he said, adding that lagoons in arid and semi-arid regions, like those in Australia, the Mediterranean, and the Persian Gulf, are particularly vulnerable.
The study points to practical solutions, including restoring environmental water flows, improving wastewater treatment, re-establishing wetlands, and enhancing salt-tolerant vegetation to slow evaporation.
Encouragingly, lagoons can recover quickly, the study said, citing South Australia's Coorong Lagoon, which rebounded within months after the 2022 Murray-Darling floods, regaining microbial diversity and ecological function. Enditem
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