What are Coastal Ecosystems?

Written By Teacher: Teresa Pettitt-Kenney

Hi there! My name is Teresa and I just finished my Bachelor's degree in Environmental Science and am excited to pursue environmental education in the future! I am extremely passionate about climate change, equitable climate action, and how education can work to address these issues. 

Whether you’re close to the coast or hundreds of miles away, coastal ecosystems are fascinating and vital habitats for both plants and animals. When exploring these amazing ecosystems with your students, it’s important to highlight their unique benefits and attributes. Discuss how these ecosystems can protect the coast from storms, keep young organisms safe, and store a huge amount of carbon using resources like this article, Coastal and Ocean Sinks. The more valued these ecosystems are, the more likely they are to be protected. Start empowering your students to advocate for these habitats, and show them that using your voice is one of the best ways to fight climate change.

Written By: MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative

The MIT Climate Change Engagement Program, a part of MIT Climate HQ, provides the public with nonpartisan, easy-to-understand, and scientifically-grounded information on climate change and its solutions.

Coastal ecosystems are the unique habitats formed by plants and other organisms that can thrive at the borders between ocean and land, where they must live in saltwater and changing tides.

Like forests, many of these coastal ecosystems are full of plants that help regulate the Earth’s temperature. As the plants in these ecosystems grow, they pull carbon out of the air and store it in their tissue, roots, and the soil beneath them. This keeps carbon out of our atmosphere, where, as the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide, it would otherwise trap heat and warm the planet.

Carbon storage and coastal protection

Coastal ecosystems are especially good at storing carbon because of the thick, rich layers of soil they build up. In most forests, when trees die, they release their carbon back into the atmosphere. But in many coastal ecosystems, when plants die, they don’t fully break down, and their carbon can stay trapped in water-logged soils for thousands of years. In fact, mangroves store three to five times as much carbon per acre as other tropical forests.1 Coastal wetlands can also store carbon that comes from other ecosystems, by filtering out carbon-rich sediments suspended in river water as it flows out to sea. Because coastal ecosystems are such potent "carbon sinks," the loss of these habitats is an important driver of climate change.

Intact, these coastal habitats are actually one of our best ways to protect coastal communities from climate change. During hurricanes and other storms, high winds can push walls of water toward shore. Coastal habitats absorb energy from incoming waves and slow down these storm surges. As sea levels rise and hurricanes become stronger, we will need this protection more than ever.