Present day change
Pollution is one of the more challenging drivers of change to research. Its often has insideous effects that manefest through indirect pathways, the scales of influnce are not obvious and the effects intergenerational. For these reasons, it is a critical driver of ecological change.
Land managment drives change in the sea
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Land derived nitrogen is more concentrated along urban catchments
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Land derived nitrogen (isotopes) occur in subtidal forests
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Weedy species thrive on nitrogen, much more than kelp
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Kelp forests are being displaced by weedy plants
Gorman, Russell & Connell SD 2009 Land-to-sea connectivity: linking human-derived terrestrial subsidies to subtidal habitat change on open rocky coasts. Ecological Applications 19: 1114-1126.
Urban structures as novel habitats
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Coastal construction replaces natural with human-built habitat
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The structures are typically vertical walls, pilings & pontoons
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They do not act as surrogates for natural habitat lost
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Instead, they create novel mixtures of species
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And beach-heads for invasive species
Glasby, Connell SD et al. 2007 Nonindigenous biota on artificial structures: could habitat creation facilitate biological invasions? Marine Biology 151:887-895.