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Finally, good news is reported on the environmental front. “Recovery of marine animal populations and ecosystems”, a review article by Lotze et al. and published in Trends in Ecology & Evolution, has received two evaluations. John Pandolfi with his associate, Ruth Thurston, and Ferdinando Boero, all from F1000’s Ecology Faculty, provide insights regarding successes reported in oceanic health and biodiversity, and where to go from here.

The article details how 10% to 50% of populations or ecosystems in decline have shown promising recovery trends. This evidence is particularly important because it contradicts the IPSO’s (International Program on the State of the Ocean) high-profile report concluding that the general health of the World’s oceans is in a worse state than previously thought.


Thurston and Pandolfi said,

Our increasing knowledge of this field reveals that humans have had profound impacts upon marine environments for much longer periods of time and often at much greater levels than commonly assumed. Lotze et al. offer a review paper with a refreshingly different focus, that of recovery of populations either as a result of intervention on our part, or because we have reduced levels of habitat destruction and/or exploitation.

The authors identify contributory factors to such recoveries, including reductions in over-fishing, loss of habitat and pollution, an increase in conservation initiatives, management plans and legal protections. The article demonstrates that a full recovery is possible, though former levels of health are rarely ever reached. Still, this happier forecast suggests that, instead of facing oceans full of jellyfish, bleached coral, and nurdles, as some bleaker forecasts have suggested, perhaps our grandchildren will enjoy bountiful fruits of the sea.

(For an informative read about many aspects of human impact on the planet, see ‘The World Without Us’ by Alan Weisman, a book that speculates about the fate of the earth if we were to one day disappear, which explains in part the threat to our oceans from disposable plastics discarded over the last 50 years.)