Marine ecosystems and their associated biodiversity sustain life on Earth and hold intrinsic value. Critical marine ecosystem services include maintenance of global oxygen and carbon cycles, production of food and energy, and sustenance of human wellbeing. However marine ecosystems are swiftly being degraded due to the unsustainable use of marine environments and a rapidly changing climate. The fundamental challenge for the fu...

Nontrophic interactions can contribute to negative and positive feedbacks within a community, thus affecting likelihood of regime shifts; however, assessing the nature and importance of these effects in a network remains challenging, especially for pelagic ecosystems. Here, we present a qualitative modeling approach for assessing the importance of different effects and resultant feedbacks for community stability, using a South...

Globally, collapse of ecosystems—potentially irreversible change to ecosystem structure, composition and function—imperils biodiversity, human health and well‐being. We examine the current state and recent trajectories of 19 ecosystems, spanning 58° of latitude across 7.7 M km 2 , from Australia's coral reefs to terrestrial Antarctica. Pressures from global climate change and regional human impacts, occurring as chronic ‘press...