ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Conservation and Sustainability
Spatiotemporal Evolution Characteristics and Driving Mechanisms of Habitat Quality in the Jiangsu Coastal Zone
Provisionally accepted
- 1College of Marine Science and Engineering, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China
- 2Coastal Zone Resources and Environment Engineering Research Center of Jiangsu Province, Nanjing, China
- 3Ministry of Natural Resources Island Research Center, Fuzhou, China
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The coastal zone, as a typical land-sea interaction area, has experienced significant changes in habitat quality under the dual influence of climate change and human activities. Identifying the land-sea differences in the mechanisms influencing habitat quality in the coastal zone is essential for the development of targeted ecological protection strategies. Based on the integrated habitat quality assessment results for the Jiangsu coastal zone from 2010 to 2020, kernel density curves and Optimal Parameter Geographic Detector (OPGD) were employed to investigate the land-sea differences in the composition, spatiotemporal variations, and driving mechanisms of habitat quality. The results indicate that, in terms of composition, low-quality habitats are mainly distributed on land, while areas with medium to high habitat quality are concentrated in the sea; in terms of spatiotemporal changes, from 2010 to 2020, habitat quality degradation in the Jiangsu coastal zone is primarily manifested as the expansion of low-quality terrestrial habitats into natural areas, as well as the transition of high-quality marine habitats into suboptimal habitats; in terms of driving mechanisms, changes in terrestrial habitat quality are primarily driven by human activities, whereas marine changes are mainly influenced by natural factors such as topography and hydrodynamics, with indirect disturbances from human activities observed in specific years. These findings provide a scientific basis for the targeted formulation of coastal zone ecological protection policies.
Keywords: Driving mechanisms 2, habitat quality 1, Jiangsu coastal zone 5, Land-sea interaction 3, Spatial andtemporal patterns 4
Received: 23 Oct 2025; Accepted: 15 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Chen, Ge, Zhang and Xu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Min Xu
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