The 400-year natural history of a tropical coastal mangrove-fringed lagoon: What can we learn?

Coastal lagoon ecosystems are important natural carbon sinks but are threatened by both climate change and direct human disturbances. By reconstructing the environmental change and carbon dynamics of the past 400 years for a tropical mangrove-fringed lagoon system in Java, Indonesia, Hapsari et al. provide important insights into how climate change and human land use co-regulate the vegetation and carbon cycles of a tropical lagoon system and its catchment. This article is a commentary on Hapsari et al. 26, 1414-1431.