Processes and attributes	Global impact	Relevant stress and disturbance	References
Greenhouse gas fluxes from tidal rivers, nearshore estuarine systems, and marshes	Poorly quantified for coastal systems. Tidal river fluxes not included in global budgets, but may contribute significantly	SLR, salinization, extreme events, temperature, land use change	8–10,22,35,46,59,118
Carbon sequestration in coastal ecosystems	Equal to 10% net residual land and 50% net marine sediment sinks	SLR, salinization, land use change, temperature	9,26,36,37,48,50,51,53,55,56,75,83,85
Nutrient and organic carbon cycling	Coastal interface acts as a source and/or sink of biogeochemically important elements (e.g., nutrients) that influence productivity of coastal and marine systems	SLR, water level fluctuations, hypoxia, anthropogenic structures/activities	2,7,19,25,27,39,43,54,58,74,87,92,98
Hydrodynamics	Controls timing and magnitude of material storage, processing and export	SLR, water level and river discharge fluctuations, storms, anthropogenic structures/activities	20,21,23,28,92,95,100
Gradients in vegetation communities	Influences biogeochemical functions described above and interacts with geomorphological processes	SLR, salinization, extreme events, temperature, land use change	15,30,31,33,52,84,86,126,127
Geomorphology	Controls topography and bathymetry, ultimately influencing vegetation and biogeochemical gradients	SLR, storms, water level and river discharge fluctuations, anthropogenic structures/activities	6,15,18,26,27,38,77–82,107
Erosion	Increases export of organic and inorganic materials across interface; redeposition also occurs. Net result is dependent on interplay between erosion and landward migration in marshes	SLR, storms, water level and river discharge fluctuations, anthropogenic structures/activities	26,27,38,77–82