Cited by 6,626Marine and coastal ecosystemsMarine Biology and Ecology ResearchAquatic Ecosystems and Phytoplankton Dynamics

Spreading dead zones and consequences for marine ecosystems

Diaz, Robert J., Rosenberg, Rutger·2008·Science

Abstract

Dead zones in the coastal oceans have spread exponentially since the 1960s and have serious consequences for ecosystem functioning. The formation of dead zones has been exacerbated by the increase in primary production and consequent worldwide coastal eutrophication fueled by riverine runoff of fertilizers and the burning of fossil fuels. Enhanced primary production results in an accumulation of particulate organic matter, which encourages microbial activity and the consumption of dissolved oxygen in bottom waters. Dead zones have now been reported from more than 400 systems, affecting a total area of more than 245,000 square kilometers, and are probably a key stressor on marine ecosystems.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1126/science.1156401

Cites

36 of 36 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Large amounts of organic matter associated with algal blooms can stimulate microbial respiration that depletes dissolved oxygen and produces CO2, promoting hypoxia and acidification.

    “Large amounts of organic matter associated with algal blooms can stimulate microbial respiration that depletes dissolved oxygen and produces CO 2 , promoting hypoxia (Fig. 1; Diaz and Rosenberg, 2008;Gilbert et al., 2010;Breitburg et al., 2018) and acidification (Fig. 1; Cai et al., 2011;Waldbusser et al., 2011;Wallace et al., 2014;Baumann et al., 2015).”

    From Harmful algal blooms: A climate change co-stressor in marine and freshwater ecosystems (2020) · cites this paper as Diaz and Rosenberg, 2008

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Diaz, R. J., & Rosenberg, R.
Affiliations
  • Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William and Mary, Gloucester Point, VA 23062, USA.
  • William & Mary (US)
Venue
Science
Published
2008-08-15
Volume
321
Issue
5891
Pages
926-929
ISSN
  • 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
  • 1095-9203
OpenAlex
W2130231032
Cited by
6,626
References
36
Citations by year
2026: 386 · 2025: 396 · 2024: 437 · 2023: 398 · 2022: 414 · 2021: 546 · 2020: 462 · 2019: 419 · 2018: 429 · 2017: 362 · 2016: 371 · 2015: 358 · 2014: 345 · 2013: 321 · 2012: 293
FWCI
11.91
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Science (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Marine and coastal ecosystems
  • Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Marine Biology and Ecology Research
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Aquatic Ecosystems and Phytoplankton Dynamics
Keywords
dead zone, coastal hypoxia, eutrophication, primary production, fossil fuel emissions, particulate organic matter, bottom water oxygen depletion, marine ecosystem functioning, ocean anoxia
MeSH terms
Anaerobiosis, Animals, Climate, Eutrophication, Fishes, Marine Biology, Oxygen, Seasons, Seawater, Ecosystem, Biomass

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review