The Adriatic Sea is among the most human-impacted coastal ecosystems worldwide – but when did humans start to affect its marine resources? Reconstructing past changes in marine resources and food-web structure, this study illustrates the long-term and far-reaching consequences human activities can have on marine ecosystems. Resource abundance has changed since at least Roman times and accelerated in the 19th and 20th centuries. Today, most traditional marine resources are depleted, and many species are rare or extirpated leaving food webs simplified and less resilient to further perturbations.
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November