Coastal ecosystems are very rare and valuable ecosystems that are found all over the world, offering a wide range of ecosystem services to local and global livelihoods. Coastal habitats around the world are being damaged as a result of numerous stresses caused by industrial activity and global environmental changes, despite their critical importance. As a result, ecologists, conservation biologists, coastal engineers, ecological managers, and policymakers have been concerned about how to efficiently restore and sustainably manage deteriorated coastal ecosystems.
The restoration of the structure and function of degraded coastal ecosystems relies on both hydrological and biological connection. The water-mediated transfer of matter, energy, and organisms between or between elements of the hydrologic cycle is known as hydrological connectedness. Tidal channel networks, for example, generate hydrological connectivity (both structural and functional connectivity) in salt marshes. Biological connectedness, on the other hand, is defined as the connection between fragmented habitats and trophic cascades between various animals. Biological connectedness can be built in coastal wetlands, for example, through ecological corridors that connect diverse habitat patches to allow animal migration. However, in the Anthropocene, human-induced pressures such as climate change, sea level rise, land use change, biological invasion, and engineering activities continue to compromise the hydrological and biological connectivity of various types of coastal ecosystems (e.g., estuarine deltas, salt marshes, seagrasses, mangroves, oyster reefs, and coral reefs). The construction of upstream dams and coastal fortifications, for example, severely disrupts the longitudinal, lateral, and vertical movement of water, sediments, nutrients, and species between landscape compartments of an estuarine environment. Delta evolution and the maintenance of a healthy and diversified environment are dependent on these connection processes. Understanding how anthropogenic disturbances affect the hydrological and biological connectivity of coastal wetlands, and how to restore it to aid the structural and functional recovery of coastal ecosystems, is thus not only an emerging frontier in ecohydrology and ecology, but also an urgent requirement for the sustainable development of coastal zones in the face of increasing human activities and climate change.
The goal of this Research Topic is to expand existing understanding on how to relate coastal wetland restoration and management to hydrological and biological connectivity. Original research contributions focusing on I degradation mechanisms of hydrological and biological connectivity in coastal ecosystems; (ii) quantitative methods for the characteristics and evolution of hydrological and biological connectivity of coastal ecosystems under local or global environmental changes; and (iii) ecological effects of altered hydrological or biological connectivity of coastal ecosystems under the intensifying climatic conditions are all welcome. We welcome submissions of Original Research Articles and Reviews.
The subtopics of the Research Topic include, but are not limited to the following:
• Monitoring, modelling and assessment of hydrological / biological connectivity
• Degradation mechanisms, processes and assessment of coastal ecosystems
• Ecological effects of changes in hydrological / biological connectivity of coastal ecosystems
• Theory and applications of coastal ecosystem restoration and adaptive management
• Conservation and restoration of hydrological / biological connectivity of coastal ecosystems in the Anthropocene
Coastal ecosystems are very rare and valuable ecosystems that are found all over the world, offering a wide range of ecosystem services to local and global livelihoods. Coastal habitats around the world are being damaged as a result of numerous stresses caused by industrial activity and global environmental changes, despite their critical importance. As a result, ecologists, conservation biologists, coastal engineers, ecological managers, and policymakers have been concerned about how to efficiently restore and sustainably manage deteriorated coastal ecosystems.
The restoration of the structure and function of degraded coastal ecosystems relies on both hydrological and biological connection. The water-mediated transfer of matter, energy, and organisms between or between elements of the hydrologic cycle is known as hydrological connectedness. Tidal channel networks, for example, generate hydrological connectivity (both structural and functional connectivity) in salt marshes. Biological connectedness, on the other hand, is defined as the connection between fragmented habitats and trophic cascades between various animals. Biological connectedness can be built in coastal wetlands, for example, through ecological corridors that connect diverse habitat patches to allow animal migration. However, in the Anthropocene, human-induced pressures such as climate change, sea level rise, land use change, biological invasion, and engineering activities continue to compromise the hydrological and biological connectivity of various types of coastal ecosystems (e.g., estuarine deltas, salt marshes, seagrasses, mangroves, oyster reefs, and coral reefs). The construction of upstream dams and coastal fortifications, for example, severely disrupts the longitudinal, lateral, and vertical movement of water, sediments, nutrients, and species between landscape compartments of an estuarine environment. Delta evolution and the maintenance of a healthy and diversified environment are dependent on these connection processes. Understanding how anthropogenic disturbances affect the hydrological and biological connectivity of coastal wetlands, and how to restore it to aid the structural and functional recovery of coastal ecosystems, is thus not only an emerging frontier in ecohydrology and ecology, but also an urgent requirement for the sustainable development of coastal zones in the face of increasing human activities and climate change.
The goal of this Research Topic is to expand existing understanding on how to relate coastal wetland restoration and management to hydrological and biological connectivity. Original research contributions focusing on I degradation mechanisms of hydrological and biological connectivity in coastal ecosystems; (ii) quantitative methods for the characteristics and evolution of hydrological and biological connectivity of coastal ecosystems under local or global environmental changes; and (iii) ecological effects of altered hydrological or biological connectivity of coastal ecosystems under the intensifying climatic conditions are all welcome. We welcome submissions of Original Research Articles and Reviews.
The subtopics of the Research Topic include, but are not limited to the following:
• Monitoring, modelling and assessment of hydrological / biological connectivity
• Degradation mechanisms, processes and assessment of coastal ecosystems
• Ecological effects of changes in hydrological / biological connectivity of coastal ecosystems
• Theory and applications of coastal ecosystem restoration and adaptive management
• Conservation and restoration of hydrological / biological connectivity of coastal ecosystems in the Anthropocene
