Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Coastal and Estuarine Studies, Volume 55.

Nutrient and contaminant inputs to estuaries and coastal seas, the exploitation of living resources, translocation of nonindigenous species, and habitat loss or modification are among the most significant and sustained anthropogenic alterations of coastal ecosystems. Although the chapters that follow touch on all of these issues, the causes and consequences of nutrient enrichment are emphasized. Nutrient enrichment of estuaries and coastal seas has increased dramatically in recent decades, largely as a consequence of the combustion of fossil fuels and land-use patterns in coastal watersheds related to increases in population density and agriculture. How these changes and the compounding effects of meteorological events and local?]regional expressions of global climate change will play out in terms of ecosystem dynamics are important questions that will drive research and monitoring in the coastal zone for decades to come.