Abstract
Radioisotopes have been used in earth and environmental sciences for over 150 years and provide unique tools to study environmental processes in great detail from a cellular level through to an oceanic basin scale. These nuclear techniques have been employed to understand coastal and marine ecosystems via laboratory and field studies to understand how aquatic organisms respond to environmental stressors including temperature, pH, nutrients, metals, organic anthropogenic compounds and biological toxins. Global marine issues, such as ocean warming, deoxygenation, plastic pollution, ocean acidification, increased duration and intensity of toxic harmful algal blooms (HABs), and coastal contamination are all impacting marine environments, thereby imposing various environmental and economic risks. Being able to reliably assess the health of coastal and marine ecosystems, and how they may respond to future disturbances, can provide vital information for society in the sustainable management of their marine environments. This paper summarises the historical use of radiotracers in these systems, describes how existing techniques of radioecological tracing can be developed for specific current environmental issues and provides information on emerging issues that would benefit from current and new radiotracer methods. Current challenges with using radioecological tracers and opportunities are highlighted as well as opportunities to maximise the uptake of these methods to greatly increase the ability of environmental managers to conduct evidence-based management of coastal and marine ecosystems.
Highlights
Many of today’s environmental challenges that threaten the health and viability of coastal and marine ecosystems are caused or heightened by a plethora of anthropogenic stressors that are exacerbated by a changing climate and ocean (Dwight et al, 2005)
The goal of this paper is to identify advantages that are conferred by using radioisotopes to address existing and emerging environmental processes in marine ecosystems
As noted by Fowler et al (2004), our understanding of the processes involved in the transfer of contaminants through coastal marine food chains can be greatly improved using nuclear techniques
Summary
Many of today’s environmental challenges that threaten the health and viability of coastal and marine ecosystems are caused or heightened by a plethora of anthropogenic stressors that are exacerbated by a changing climate and ocean (Dwight et al, 2005). The use of a suite of radioactive isotopic tracers (radiotracers) both in controlled laboratory experiments (reviews by Fisher and Reinfelder, 1995; Fowler et al, 2004; Stewart et al, 2008; Metian et al, 2019a) and in field settings (Swarzenski and Porcelli, 2003; Fry, 2006; Baskaran, 2011; Fowler, 2011; Harmelin-Vivien et al, 2012) has been invaluable to advance our understanding of marine and coastal ecosystems These experiments (lab and field) have enabled efficient analyses of the uptake and retention of diverse contaminants in aquatic organisms. Radiotracers can be used in experimental and field applications to provide unique information and perspectives on how, for example, subtle changes to ocean chemistry over time may influence essential biological systems with far-reaching impacts
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