NSF awards $13 million for research on how humans, environment interact

Delta: A place where sediment carried downstream by a river enters the sea, forming a fan of sand or mud.

Although deltas make up just 1 percent of the world’s land, they’re home to more than half a billion people — and to fertile ecosystems such as mangroves and marshes. Deltas also serve as economic hotspots. They support much of the world’s fisheries and forest products, and are major food production areas for many nations.

Scientists have found that deltas are …