Give Beach Ecosystems Their Day in the Sun

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report (1) largely overlooked the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems (2). In their Review (“The impact of climate change on the world's marine ecosystems,” 18 June, p. 1523), O. Hoegh-Guldberg and J. F. Bruno redress this gap by synthesizing recent literature. In so doing, they made the disparities in research among ocean systems apparent. Specifically, there are no studies of climate change impacts to sandy beach ecosystems. Rather than any oversight by Hoegh-Guldberg and Bruno or previous authors (3), we believe that the omission of beaches from this and other assessments of anthropogenic impacts reflects a relative lack of appreciation of beaches as ecosystems.