About this Research Topic
Estuaries are among the most degraded and threatened environments worldwide. Even more, human-engineered interventions (e.g. sluice gates, jetties, dikes, impoundments, training walls, port facilities, dredging), land reclamation, changes in upstream land-use and human-induced pollution might have configured a specific group within these altered environments: the highly intervened estuaries. Human interventions have modified the hydrodynamic, morphology, and geochemistry features of these systems, leading to deviations from expected patterns. Anthropogenic actions have also reduced their capability to adjust to environmental changes, including their potential to cope with the crescent pressure triggered by climate change. As a result, highly intervened estuaries exhibit a broad range of anomalous responses including changes in circulation patterns, disturbances in mixing conditions, accelerated siltation, distributaries closure, shifts in water/sediment residence times, severe shoreline retreat, significant changes in the estuarine turbidity maximum features, even the accelerated loss of ecosystem services (e.g. filtering and nutrient recycling).
Despite the human interventions in these ecosystems encompass several decades, the interaction between impacts, effects, and their respective dynamic response is not fully understood yet and is becoming even more complex because of the multitude of pressures. Human interventions lead to synergic effects, triggering not just differential responses in the estuarine components, but also at different time scales. Such level of complexity raises questions about the degree of loss in natural services/functions, the potential capacity of assimilation or recovery, and the existence of physical/chemical/ecological thresholds required for the management and restoration of highly intervened estuaries.
This Research Topic aims to summarize experiences and analysis of altered processes in estuaries, bring insights into the responses against such human disturbances, considering varying time-scales and effects in the different components of the estuarine system, and promote discussion about management and restoration strategies in highly intervened estuaries. Consequently, it welcomes original research papers and review articles dealing with:
- Significant changes in natural functions of estuaries (i.e. nutrients cycling, pollutants filtering, and critical habitats) after human interventions;
- Morphological and hydrodynamic responses after engineered interventions at river mouths and bays;
- Loss of critical ecosystems in estuaries and its potential effects on climate change mitigation/adaptation;
- Effects of dredgings on estuarine dynamics;
- Physico-chemical degradation in estuaries triggered by heavily polluted river inputs and basin-scale processes.
Despite the human interventions in these ecosystems encompass several decades, the interaction between impacts, effects, and their respective dynamic response is not fully understood yet and is becoming even more complex because of the multitude of pressures. Human interventions lead to synergic effects, triggering not just differential responses in the estuarine components, but also at different time scales. Such level of complexity raises questions about the degree of loss in natural services/functions, the potential capacity of assimilation or recovery, and the existence of physical/chemical/ecological thresholds required for the management and restoration of highly intervened estuaries.
This Research Topic aims to summarize experiences and analysis of altered processes in estuaries, bring insights into the responses against such human disturbances, considering varying time-scales and effects in the different components of the estuarine system, and promote discussion about management and restoration strategies in highly intervened estuaries. Consequently, it welcomes original research papers and review articles dealing with:
- Significant changes in natural functions of estuaries (i.e. nutrients cycling, pollutants filtering, and critical habitats) after human interventions;
- Morphological and hydrodynamic responses after engineered interventions at river mouths and bays;
- Loss of critical ecosystems in estuaries and its potential effects on climate change mitigation/adaptation;
- Effects of dredgings on estuarine dynamics;
- Physico-chemical degradation in estuaries triggered by heavily polluted river inputs and basin-scale processes.
Keywords: estuarine degradation, morphological response, geochemical disturbances, loss of resilience capacity, loss of critical ecosystems, engineered infrastructure
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