Coastal wetlands such as mangroves, salt marshes, tidal freshwater wetlands, seagrass meadows, and intertidal flats occupy the interface between terrestrial and marine systems. Although limited in global area, these ecosystems play important roles in carbon and nutrient cycling, organic matter accumulation, sediment dynamics, biodiversity conservation, and the provision of ecosystem services to coastal communities. However, sea-level rise, extreme climatic events, land-use change, pollution, and global warming are altering the structure, functioning, and environmental conditions of coastal wetlands worldwide.
Understanding how biogeochemical processes operate across scales — from mineral surfaces and microbial activity in soils/sediments to landscape-level processes and regional governance frameworks — is essential for predicting ecosystem responses to environmental change and designing effective management strategies. Coastal wetlands have also received increasing attention due to their role in carbon storage and climate change mitigation. However, important uncertainties remain regarding the interactions among biogeochemical cycles, ecosystem functioning, and environmental drivers, including how disturbances and changing climatic conditions affect nutrient dynamics, greenhouse gas fluxes, sediment processes, and the long-term effectiveness of restoration and conservation strategies.
This Research Topic aims to advance the mechanistic and applied understanding of biogeochemical processes and ecosystem functioning in coastal wetlands across different climatic regions, ecosystem types, and gradients of human influence. Contributions integrating soil/sediment biogeochemistry, hydrology, ecology, remote sensing, geospatial analysis, environmental monitoring, and modelling approaches are particularly encouraged.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
• Biogeochemical cycling of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, iron, and trace elements on coastal ecosystem functioning
• Remote sensing, geospatial analysis, and modelling applied to coastal wetland biogeochemical processes
• Monitoring frameworks and indicators of environmental change in coastal wetlands
• Impacts of climate change, sea-level rise, extreme events, and anthropogenic disturbances on biogeochemical dynamics
• Soil–plant–fauna interactions and their influence on ecosystem functioning
• Blue carbon: mapping, quantification, permanence, restoration, and conservation strategies
By bringing together studies across multiple spatial and temporal scales, this Research Topic aims to synthesize current advances, identify research gaps, and support science-based management and conservation strategies for coastal wetlands under ongoing environmental change.
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
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:
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.
