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Frontier Research on Sustainable Coastal Wetland Ecosystem

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Social Ecology and Sustainability".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 11067

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Baoshan Cui

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Guest Editor

School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Interests: wetland ecology; ecohydrological processes; wetland restoration; wetland diversity; biological conservation

Dr. Dongdong Shao

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Guest Editor

School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Interests: eco- and environmental-hydraulics; estuarine hydrodynamics; morphodynamics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Tian Xie

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Guest Editor

School of Environment, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Interests: wetland restoration; ecohydrological processes; invasion ecology; wetland vegetation; biological conservation; wetland biodiversity; biogeomorphology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Qing Wang

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Guest Editor

Research and Development Center for Watershed Environmental Eco-Engineering, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai 519085, China
Interests: wetland restoration; wetland vegetation; biogeomorphology; plant life cycle; wetland resilience; ecohydrological processes
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Coastal wetlands play important roles in providing ecosystem services such as supporting important species, preventing saline intrusion, conserving biodiversity, moderating microclimate, and promoting nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration. Maintaining healthy and functional coastal wetlands is key to the delivery of these important ecosystem services and achieving sustainable and resilient coastal development. However, multiple stressors from natural and anthropogenic disturbances pose severe threats to coastal wetlands and have often caused its shrinkage, degradation and eventually loss.

Natural disturbances in coastal zones include hurricanes, storms, saline intrusion, sea level rise, fire, invasive species, outbreaks of herbivores and wrack. Moreover, there is a long history of coastal development throughout the world to meet the needs of population and economic growth. The shoreline protection infrastructures including seawalls, revetments, dikes and levees would block land-ocean connectivity and shrink nearshore and intertidal habitats, limit the movement of planktons, benthos, nekton and plant seed dispersal by water, and alter suspended sediment transport processes. Other disturbances such as noise, light, shipping vessels and aquaculture or port sewage discharge are also major contributor for coastal wetland degradation.

The sustainability and resilience of the coastal wetlands hinge on the relevant physical and ecological processes as well as the coupled eco-physical processes such as bio-geomorphological and ecogeomorphological processes. Disturbances, natural or anthropogenic, threaten coastal habitats not only through directly affecting primary and secondary productivity, community composition and distribution, and biodiversity, but also through indirectly affecting natural processes and reducing habitat heterogeneity and connectivity. In addition to the loss of community structure and ecosystem functions, the loss of ecosystem services also degrade the quality of life of coastal communities.

This Special Issue aims to provide an interdisciplinary platform for researchers with varying backgrounds to communicate their latest research progress on the challenges and opportunities the coastal wetlands face to achieve sustainability. Contributions concerning the assessment of the status and evolution of the coastal wetlands under rapid environmental changes, its inherent eco-physical processes and mechanisms, and response and adaptation to natural and anthropogenic impacts, as well as the implications for coastal management and restoration are particularly welcome. The potential topics includes but not limited to:

Land-use effects on coastal wetlands;
Coastal wetland degradation processes and assessment;
Assessment of ecological service functions in coastal wetlands;
Principles and applications of coastal wetland restoration;
Coastal wetland conservation and management;
Ecological network analysis of coastal wetlands;
Effects of sea-level rise on coastal wetlands;
Coastal wetland soil pollution and assessment;
Ecosystem-based approaches.

Prof. Dr. Baoshan Cui
Dr. Dongdong Shao
Dr. Tian Xie
Dr. Qing Wang
Guest Editors

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Keywords

wetland ecosystems
restoration
ecohydrological processes
ecological service functions
biogeochemical processes
biogeomorphology

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

19 pages, 28433 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Mapping Coastal Wetlands Using Satellite Imagery and Machine Learning in a Highly Urbanized Landscape

by Juan Munizaga, Mariano García, Fernando Ureta, Vanessa Novoa, Octavio Rojas and Carolina Rojas

Sustainability 2022, 14(9), 5700; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14095700 - 09 May 2022

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2768

Abstract

Coastal wetlands areas are heterogeneous, highly dynamic areas with complex interactions between terrestrial and marine ecosystems, making them essential for the biosphere and the development of human activities. Remote sensing offers a robust and cost-efficient mean to monitor coastal landscapes. In this paper, we evaluate the potential of using high resolution satellite imagery to classify land cover in a coastal area in Concepción, Chile, using a machine learning (ML) approach. Two machine learning algorithms, Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Random Forest (RF), were evaluated using four different scenarios: (I) using original spectral bands; (II) incorporating spectral indices; (III) adding texture metrics derived from the grey-level covariance co-occurrence matrix (GLCM); and (IV) including topographic variables derived from a digital terrain model. Both methods stand out for their excellent results, reaching an average overall accuracy of 88% for support vector machine and 90% for random forest. However, it is statistically shown that random forest performs better on this type of landscape. Furthermore, incorporating Digital Terrain Model (DTM)-derived metrics and texture measures was critical for the substantial improvement of SVM and RF. Although DTM did not increase the accuracy in SVM, this study makes a methodological contribution to the monitoring and mapping of water bodies’ landscapes in coastal cities with weak governance and data scarcity in coastal management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontier Research on Sustainable Coastal Wetland Ecosystem)

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18 pages, 4860 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessing Coastal Reclamation Success in the East China Coast by Using Plant Species Composition

by Caiyao Xu, Xiaohan Wang, Lijie Pu, Fanbin Kong and Bowei Li

Sustainability 2022, 14(9), 5118; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14095118 - 24 Apr 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1408

Abstract

Quantitative analysis of the species composition and succession law of a plant community in a coastal reclamation area is of great significance for revealing the community construction and species coexistence mechanisms, and provides a basis for the rational use and conservation in coastal reclamation areas. Through the investigation of natural plant communities in Dongtai reclamation area and the adjacent national nature reserves in Jiangsu Province, eastern China, the composition and succession of plant communities were studied. A quantitative method was explored to analyze the process of plant succession and its representative species. The results showed that (1) A total of 65 species were found in the vegetation survey. These belonged to 26 families and 61 genera, and Poaceae is the most common plant species. The plant communities in the unreclaimed areas were mainly composed of Poaceae and Cyperaceae. The plant species increased after reclamation, which were mainly composed of Poaceae and Asteraceae; (2) The plant coverage greatly reduced after three years of reclamation, from 80% of the tidal flat to 37.34%, then gradually increased, and remained generally between 50% and 70%; (3) The above-ground biomass of the plant community was sharply reduced after reclamation, from 1.823 kg/m² in the tidal flat to 0.321 kg/m² in three years of reclamation, and then maintained at 0.11~0.27 kg/m²; (4)The species succession process of the plant community in the coastal wetland ecosystem that was affected by the reclamation activities transformed from a halophyte community that was dominated by a salt marsh plant community (Suaeda salsa, Spartina alterniflora, Scirpus mariqueter, and Phragmites australis) to a mesophyte plant community that was constructed with pioneer species such as Setaria viridis, Eleusine indica, etc., and eventually succeeded to a xerophyte plant community that was dominated by Humulus scandens and Cyperus difformis, etc. Reclamation activities have a profound impact on the characteristics and succession rules of natural vegetation communities along coastal wetland ecosystems. The period of seven years is presumed to be the tipping point in the succession of the plant community in coastal reclamation areas. The results of this study can provide a basis and reference for ecological protection and restoration in coastal reclamation areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontier Research on Sustainable Coastal Wetland Ecosystem)

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17 pages, 3243 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Responses of Urban Wetland to Climate Change and Human Activities in Beijing: A Case Study of Hanshiqiao Wetland

by Yong Zhang, Bo Cao, Qiyue Zhang, Shifeng Cui, Baoshan Cui and Jizeng Du

Sustainability 2022, 14(8), 4530; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14084530 - 11 Apr 2022

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1952

Abstract

Hydrological connectivity is an essential indicator of wetland pattern and functional stability. The reduction of connectivity usually means the degradation of wetland ecological function, internal energy flow, and nutrient cycle disturbance. Taking Hanshiqiao wetland as a case, we used Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA) with the Connectivity Index (IIC, Integral Index of Connectivity; PC, Probability of Connectivity) to analyze the change in hydrological connectivity of Hanshiqiao Wetland from both spatial and temporal aspects. The results showed that the hydrological connectivity of Hanshiqiao Wetland significantly improved with the implementation of the wetland restoration project. According to the changes in MSPA function types, the spatial morphological evolution of Hanshiqiao Wetland can be divided into two stages: the recovery stage and the stable stage. In the restoration stage, the area of the core wetland gradually increased, and many croplands and islet wetlands were transformed into the core wetland. The area of the core wetland recovered from 33 hm² in 2005 to 119 hm² in 2020. However, during the stable period, the landscape pattern of Hanshiqiao Wetland did not change significantly, and the hydrological connectivity of the wetland was mainly affected by water resource supply. In general, during the restoration period of Hanshiqiao Wetland, the changes in core wetlands played a leading role in the hydrological connectivity of Hanshiqiao Wetland. In the stable period, the main factors affecting the hydrological connectivity of Hanshiqiao Wetland are upstream recharge water, land-use change, and climate change. However, with climate warming and population surge, upstream water supply gradually decreases, and Hanshiqiao Wetland faces an increasingly severe water resource crisis. Therefore, to maintain the hydrological connectivity of Hanshiqiao Wetland, it is necessary to increase the artificial ecological water supply. The combined MSPA model and grey relational analysis method can better reveal the evolution characteristics and driving mechanism of wetland hydrological connectivity, which can provide a methodological reference for other wetland-related research. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontier Research on Sustainable Coastal Wetland Ecosystem)

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15 pages, 3143 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Landscape Pattern Evolution Processes and the Driving Forces in the Wetlands of Lake Baiyangdian

by Cuiping Zhao, Jiaguo Gong, Qinghui Zeng, Miao Yang and Ying Wang

Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9747; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13179747 - 30 Aug 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 1952

Abstract

The spatiotemporal features of land use changes and the evolution process of landscape pattern from 1980 to 2017 were investigated using historical satellite images from a Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) for 1980, 1990, 2000, 2005, 2010 and 2017 in the wetlands of Lake Baiyangdian in the North China Plain (NCP). Landscape pattern indices were used to quantify landscape changes in wetlands, and a redundancy analysis (RDA) was conducted to analyze the driving forces and quantitatively explain the effects of human activities and natural changes on wetland fragmentation. The results showed that the total wetland area was 234.4 km² in 1980 but it decreased by 8.1% at an average decrease rate of 0.5 km² per year. The dominant transition between land use types was from natural wetlands to artificial wetlands, and wetland conversion to dry land and residential land. The RDA results suggested that agricultural activities and total population were the main driving factors affecting wetland landscape. Additionally, climate change provided a potentially favorable environment for agricultural development, due to the increased temperatures and decreased wind speeds. Additionally, governmental policy changes and dam construction also played the roles in land use changes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontier Research on Sustainable Coastal Wetland Ecosystem)

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15 pages, 3187 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatial Analysis as a Tool for Plant Population Conservation: A Case Study of Tamarix chinensis in the Yellow River Delta, China

by Le Jiao, Yue Zhang, Tao Sun, Wei Yang, Dongdong Shao, Peng Zhang and Qiang Liu

Sustainability 2021, 13(15), 8291; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13158291 - 24 Jul 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1888

Abstract

Saltcedar (Tamarix chinensis) is undergoing population declination and fragmentation due to climate change and human disturbance. The existing restoration strategies usually focus on improving the environmental conditions based on the environment–saltcedar relationship, while they ignore the role of spatial autocorrelation resulting from biological interaction and ecological processes. This oversight limits the efficiency and sustainability of the restoration. Here, we explored the spatial pattern of the saltcedar population in the Yellow River Delta, China, and its relationship with environmental factors, incorporating spatial autocorrelation. The plant and soil parameters were extracted by an airborne LiDAR system integrated with fixed soil environment measurements. The environment–saltcedar relationship incorporating spatial autocorrelation was evaluated with different regression models. Results showed that saltcedars aggregated at small scales (2–6 m), resulting from intraspecific facilitation and wind dispersal of seeds, while intraspecific competition was responsible for the random distribution at large scales (>10 m). The long-distance dispersal of seeds through water explained the significant positive spatial autocorrelation of saltcedars at distances up to 125 m. Consequently, resulting from intraspecific facilitation and seed dispersal, aggregation distribution and positive spatial autocorrelation within the saltcedar population improved the adaptability of saltcedar to environmental stress and thereby reduced the impact of environmental factors on the abundance of saltcedar. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Frontier Research on Sustainable Coastal Wetland Ecosystem)

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