Marine coastal ecosystem

Marine habitats
Marine coastal ecosystems include many different types of marine habitats
Coastal habitats Littoral zone Intertidal zone Estuaries Mangrove forests Seagrass meadows Kelp forests Coral reefs Continental shelf Neritic zone Ocean surface Surface microlayer Epipelagic zone Open ocean Pelagic zone Oceanic zone Sea floor Seamounts Hydrothermal vents Cold seeps Demersal zone Benthic zone Marine sediment
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A marine coastal ecosystem is a marine ecosystem which occurs where the land meets the ocean. Marine coastal ecosystems include many different types of marine habitats, such as estuaries and lagoons, salt marshes and mangrove forests, seagrass meadows and coral reefs, kelp forests and backwaters. Directly and indirectly these provide a vast range of ecosystem services for humans, such as sequestering carbon, cycling nutrients and elements, providing nurseries and fishing grounds for commercial fisheries, preventing coastal erosion and moderating extreme events, as well as providing recreational services and supporting tourism.