The lower Chesapeake Bay is especially at risk due to high rates
of sinking land (known as subsidence).96 Climate
change and sea level rise are also likely to cause a number
of ecological impacts, including declining
water quality and
clarity, increases in harmful algae and low oxygen (hypoxia) events, decreases in a number
of species including eelgrass and seagrass beds, and
changing interactions among trophic levels (positions in the food chain) leading to an increase in subtropical fish and shellfish species in the bay.66