Land-Sea Interaction in the Anthropocene: Spatial Dynamics, Carbon Impacts, and Policy Pathways

About this Research Topic

Background

Coastal–marine systems at the land–sea interface —estuaries, deltas, lagoons, nearshore shelves, and archipelagos— are pivotal nodes in the global carbon cycle, biodiversity, and ecosystem services, while also concentrating human populations and infrastructure. Under accelerating global change, these systems face converging pressures: sea-level rise, warming and acidification, intensifying extremes and compound events, and altered land-derived fluxes of freshwater, sediments, nutrients, and pollutants that reshape marine states. At the same time, anthropogenic land-use and land-cover changes (LUCC) in coastal zones —such as urbanization, agricultural expansion, and shoreline modification— are increasingly recognized as critical drivers affecting coastal-marine ecological functions, carbon dynamics, and spatial resource conflicts.

This Research Topic focuses on the marine and coastal consequences of global change along the land–sea continuum. We invite studies that quantify and explain marine system responses: biogeochemistry, carbon cycling and sequestration (including blue carbon), ecosystem structure and function, and socio-ecological vulnerability, in relation to climate drivers and upstream signals as well as land-based human activities where they demonstrably modify coastal–marine conditions. We particularly welcome contributions that leverage observations (in situ and remote sensing), process studies, and coupled models to resolve mechanisms, attributes, and scenario-based futures relevant to adaptation and resilience. Studies integrating land-use data, spatial analysis, and coastal-marine outcomes are strongly encouraged.
Governance and planning content should be explicitly marine: marine spatial planning (MSP), coastal land-use planning, ecosystem-based management, coastal zone management, and adaptation policies grounded in marine evidence, metrics, or scenarios. Broad terrestrial spatial planning or general governance not directly targeting marine/coastal outcomes falls outside this Topic’'s scope.

Indicative themes
- Coastal carbon budgets and blue-carbon ecosystems under climate forcing: sequestration, stability, and feedback under warming, acidification, and sea-level rise.
- Estuary-to-shelf biogeochemistry: nutrient and sediment fluxes, eutrophication–hypoxia dynamics, turbidity, and consequences for productivity and food webs.
- Coastal hazards and compound events: interactions among sea-level rise, storm surge, waves, and river discharge; ecological and socio-ecological impacts.
- Land-derived signals and coastal land-use change as marine drivers: when and how watershed changes and coastal LUCC measurably alter coastal–marine states (thresholds, nonlinearity, and attribution).
- Spatiotemporal dynamics of coastal land use and shoreline change: impacts on ecological carrying capacity, habitat connectivity, and blue carbon ecosystem services.
- Marine spatial planning and coastal adaptation: nature-based solutions, habitat protection and restoration, spatial coordination of land-sea uses, and ecosystem-based management demonstrably improving coastal–marine outcomes.
- Land-sea coordination in policy and governance: integrated approaches to resolve spatial conflicts, enhance coastal resilience, and sustain carbon sequestration under changing climate.
- Monitoring and modeling for decision support: sustained observing systems, remote sensing, digital twins, and coupled models that integrate climate, land-use, and upstream drivers to inform coastal resilience.

Preferred approaches and article types:
- Original Research, Methods, Brief Research Reports, and Reviews that center marine/coastal evidence and land-sea interdisciplinary approaches.
- Data papers, model intercomparison/benchmarking, and synthesis with clear implications for coastal–marine management or adaptation, especially those incorporating land-use/cover data and spatial governance insights.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Policy Brief
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Coastal Marine Systems, Blue Carbon, Estuary-to-shelf biochemistry, Sea-Level rise and compound hazards, Marine Spatial Planning (MSP), Watershed-to-coast fluxes, Land-sea coordination, Land-use and land-cover change (LUCC)

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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