Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Commentary
  • Published:

Sustaining coastal urban ecosystems

A Corrigendum to this article was published on 30 November 2008

The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season once again highlighted the challenges awaiting low-lying population centres close to the ocean. In the face of global sea-level rise, unconventional thinking is required to make urban coasts more resilient.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: The impact of hurricanes Ike (west) and Katrina (east).
Figure 2: Rebuilding New Orleans.

References

  1. Seed, R. B. et al. Investigation of the Performance of the New Orleans Flood Protection Systems in Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005; <http://www.ce.berkeley.edu/~new_orleans/> (2006).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Törnqvist, T. E. Neth. J. Geosc.–Geol. Mijnbouw 86, 307–315 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Mooney, C. Storm World. Hurricanes, Politics, and the Battle over Global Warming (Harcourt, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Meehl, G. A. et al. in Climate Change 2007. The Physical Science Basis (eds Solomon, S. et al.) 747–845 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  5. González, J. L. & Törnqvist, T. E. Eos 87, 493–498 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Costanza, R. et al. Ambio 37, 241–248 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Gagliano, S. M., Meyer-Arendt, K. J. & Wicker, K. M. Gulf Coast Assoc. Geol. Soc. Trans. 31, 295–300 (1981).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Day, J. W. Jr et al. Estuaries 23, 425–438 (2000).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Louisiana Coastal Wetlands Conservation and Restoration Task Force and the Wetlands Conservation and Restoration Authority. Coast 2050: Toward a Sustainable Coastal Louisiana (Louisiana Department of Natural Resources, Baton Rouge, 1998).

  10. Day, J. W. Jr et al. Science 315, 1679–1684 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Pinter, N. Science 308, 207–208 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Nicholls, R. J. et al. in Climate Change 2007. Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability (eds Parry, M. L., Canziani, O. F., Palutikof, J. P., Van der Linden, P. J. & Hanson, C. E.) 315–356 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Elmqvist, T., Alfsen, C. & Colding, J. in Encyclopedia of Ecology (eds Jørgensen, S. E. & Fath, B.) 3665–3672 (Elsevier, 2008).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  14. Costanza, R., Mitsch, W. J. & Day, J. W. Jr Front. Ecol. Environ. 4, 465–472 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Halsnæs, K. et al. in Climate Change 2007. Mitigation of Climate Change (eds Metz, B., Davidson, O. R., Bosch, P. R., Dave, R. & Meyer, L. A.) 117–167 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Birch, E. L. & Wachter, S. M. (eds) Rebuilding Urban Places after Disaster. Lessons from Hurricane Katrina (Univ. Pennsylvania Press, 2006).

    Google Scholar 

  17. Campanella, R. Above-Sea-Level New Orleans (Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research, New Orleans, 2007).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Kabat, P., Van Vierssen, W., Veraart, J., Vellinga, P. & Aerts, J. Nature 438, 283–284 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. http://www.weather.gov/mdl/psurge/archive.php

  20. http://www.makeitrightnola.org

Download references

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the support from the United States Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration by means of the Long-term Estuary Assessment Group (LEAG) program. T.E.T. is appreciative of the hospitality provided by the Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, during the writing of this commentary. We are also grateful to Rich Campanella and Mélicie Desflots for help and advice regarding the illustrations.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Torbjörn E. Törnqvist.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Törnqvist, T., Meffert, D. Sustaining coastal urban ecosystems. Nature Geosci 1, 805–807 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo365

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo365

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing