Energy Environment and Economy
Energy, Environment and Sustainable Sciences | online ISSN 3069-0935
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Volume 4 Number 1 2026
REVIEWS (Open Access)
Climate Change, Coastal Stressors, and Estuarine Collapse: A Systematic Review of Ecological Vulnerability, Biodiversity Loss, and Ecosystem Resilience
Ahsan Habib 1*, Md. Anisur Rahman 1, Md. Sajib Hossain Suvo 2 3, Sohrab Hossain 1, Biplab Biswas 1, Monirul Islam 1, Md. Kawser 2 3, Md Saiyed Qutubul Alam 2 3, Meer Sakib Hasan Shishir 2 3, Most. Samia Mahin Onty 2 3, Nafi Khan Rhine 2 3, Khurshed Alam 2 3
Energy Environment and Economy 4 (1) 1-8 https://doi.org/10.25163/energy.4110705
Submitted: 18 February 2026 Revised: 04 April 2026 Accepted: 13 April 2026 Published: 15 April 2026
Abstract
Estuaries sit at a difficult intersection between land and sea, and perhaps that is precisely why they respond so visibly to environmental disturbance. These ecosystems are remarkably productive, yet increasingly fragile under the combined pressure of climate change, nutrient enrichment, sediment alteration, habitat fragmentation, and expanding human activity. This systematic review synthesized evidence from estuarine studies examining how climatic and anthropogenic stressors influence benthic biodiversity, plankton dynamics, fish recruitment, and trophic interactions across intertidal and subtidal habitats. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, eligible studies were retrieved from major scientific databases and quantitatively evaluated using random-effects meta-analytic models.
The synthesis revealed that habitat heterogeneity, sediment composition, and hydrodynamic stability consistently shaped benthic productivity and ecological resilience. Fine-grained sediments with higher organic content generally supported greater macrofaunal biomass and stronger trophic connectivity, while nutrient overloading and habitat degradation promoted opportunistic species dominance and reduced ecological stability. Correlation analyses further demonstrated that temperature, salinity, nitrate concentration, and ammonium availability strongly influenced plankton biomass and seasonal ecosystem dynamics. Forest and funnel plot analyses suggested moderate heterogeneity but relatively limited publication bias overall. Collectively, the findings suggest that estuaries are not merely passive recipients of environmental change; they function as ecological sentinels that reflect cumulative climatic and anthropogenic pressures. Protecting sediment integrity, trophic complexity, and adaptive coastal processes may therefore be essential for sustaining estuarine biodiversity and long-term ecosystem resilience.
Keywords: Estuarine ecology; benthic communities; intertidal flats; habitat restoration; tidal dynamics; anthropogenic impacts; ecosystem productivity
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