The ocean is full of metals and minerals that naturally occur such as zinc, copper, and cobalt and many marine organisms therefore depend upon access to those metals in small concentrations. However, inshore marine systems receive inputs from industrial, mining, and stormwater runoff that far exceed what these organisms can use. So what’s the effect? There was recently a good review article by Mayer-Pinto et al describings the effects of these metals at the assemblage level that basically did my job for me, research-wise, covering both marine and freshwater systems.
Science