Interaction between pollution and climate change augments ecological risk to a coastal ecosystem

Abstract

Pollution and climate change are among the most challenging issues for countries with developing economies, but we know little about the ecological risks that result when these pressures occur together. We explored direct effects of, and interactions between, environmental pollution and climate change on ecosystem health in the Bohai Sea region of Northern China. We developed an integrated approach to assess ecological risks to this region under four scenarios of climate change. Although ecological risks to the system from pollution alone have been declining, interactions between pollution and climate change have enhanced ecological risks to this coastal/marine ecosystem. Our results suggest that current policies focused strictly on pollution control alone should be changed to take into account the interactive effects of climate change so as to better forecast and manage potential ecological risks.

Spatially Heterogeneity Response of Critical Ecosystem Service Capacity to Address Regional Development Risks to Rapid Urbanization: The Case of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Urban Agglomeration in China

“…Human activities are considered a major driver of global environmental change, and rapid regional urbanization in particular exerts a significant impact on the health of ecosystems themselves and their sustainable development [75,76]. In this study, the impact of overall regional urbanization on ESs was not only explored, but the impact of urbanization in each district and county within the selected urban agglomeration on its own and surrounding region-wide ESs intensity was also explored and analyzed in depth.…”

Editorial: Biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services: Interrelationship with environmental and human health

“…Millennium Assessment Reports (2005 estimated that about 60% of the benefits provided by global ecosystems to support life on Earth have been degraded and explored unsustainably. Anthropogenic global changes, including climate change and pollution, have caused environmental degradation and habitat damaging world widely with significant loss of biodiversity, ecosystem function, and ecosystem service (Lu et al, 2015(Lu et al, , 2019. Along with reduced environmental health, such declines in biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and services raise the serious potential for irreversible ecological changes to create catastrophic impacts on human health and wellbeing (Hartig et al, 2014) (Figure 1).…”