In this talk, ecologist Brian Silliman discusses the factors behind major die-offs of coastal wetlands.

Many coastal ecosystems are stressed by human impacts, such as overfishing, pollution, and climate change. When multiple stressors are combined, they may have a huge impact on the health of an ecosystem. Silliman describes how salt marshes in particular are affected by interactions between climate stress and top-down control by herbivores. He also illustrates how similar interactions and stressors may lead to the decline of other ecosystems.

This talk is from a 2016 Holiday Lecture Series, Ecology of Rivers and Coasts: Food Webs and Human Impacts.