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Tracing coral reef pollution using beachrocks

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment (2026)Cite this article

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Coral reefs occupy just ~0.2% of the seafloor yet support nearly a quarter of all marine species. These ecosystems are increasingly threatened by chemical pollution derived from land-based runoff, coastal development, shipping, oil spills, and tourism. Contaminants are transported, transformed, and diluted by tides, waves, and biological activities, making it difficult to identify pollutant sources. Additionally, water-column measurements capture only short-term conditions, and sediments on the seafloor are frequently resuspended, leading to a lack of long-term records of pollution levels.

Beachrocks can be used to reconstruct pollution sources and histories in ecologically vulnerable coral reef systems. For example, seasonal monitoring of beachrocks is being used to explore how human-derived emissions reach the tropical Xisha Islands and the subtropical, high-latitude reefs of Weizhou Island. Such measurements can inform local management approaches to restrict pollution sources and facilitate global assessments of the impact of human activities on the oceans.

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Acknowledgements

This work is financially supported by Guangxi Science and Technology Program (No. AD25069075), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 42030502 and 42090041). The author expresses gratitude to K. Yu (Guangxi University) and D. Hou (Tsinghua University) for their support.

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  1. Guangxi Laboratory on the Study of Coral Reefs in the South China Sea, Coral Reef Research Center of China, School of Marine Sciences, Guangxi University, Nanning, China

    Liuwei Wang

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  1. Liuwei Wang
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Correspondence to Liuwei Wang.

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The author declares no competing interests.

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Wang, L. Tracing coral reef pollution using beachrocks. Nat Rev Earth Environ (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-026-00768-0

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