About this Research Topic

Background

Coastal wetlands provide precious ecological services for us, like coastal protection, carbon storage, flooding mitigation, production, and so on. Mangrove, saltmarsh, sea grass, oyster reef, and coral reef are typical types of coastal wetland, each type has its unique adaptive strategy to climate change, through some processes and mechanisms. Some of them are well-known to us, but most are unrecognized as they are far away from our living environment. Furthermore, in the context of climate change and anthropogenic influence, the external disturbance is more complicated and changeable, causing the responses of species and the related processes more secluded and unpredictable. Therefore, the multilevel processes or mechanisms in coastal wetland to adapt to climate change, as well as the solutions, is urgent and important to face the new challenges.

Coastal wetlands lie in the transition zone between lands and seas, defending us from storms and floodings and providing important and valuable ecosystem services such as carbon stock and biodiversity maintenance. However, coastal wetlands are vulnerable and are one of the most physically disturbed ecosystems on earth, because they are always in hydrodynamic conditions under the interactions among tides, waves, runoffs, and so on. Furthermore, the combined impacts of climate change and human activities have caused more uncertainties and complexities on the environmental factors, which imposed unparalleled impacts on the diversity, distribution, and ecological performance of coastal wetland ecosystem globally.

Due to climate change and anthropogenic impact, coastal wetland is facing multiple challenges all over the world, including but not limited to degradation and diminishing of habitat/ecosystem services and declining biodiversity. Consequently, elucidating the various processes, mechanisms, and solutions for coastal wetland to adapt to climate change will help us actively respond to the negative effects of climate change.

The focus of this Research Topic is on studies using literature, remote sensing, experimental or modeling methods to reveal important processes and mechanisms in coastal wetland to adapt to climate change and anthropogenic influences. It calls for original and novel papers in any of the following research topics:

• The impacts of climate change and human activity on the pattern, distribution, and potential of coastal habitat

• Effects of multiple stressors or disturbances on ecological process (e.g. life cycle process, biogeomorphic process, food web) in coastal wetland

• Adaptive mechanisms of species on individual, population, and community levels to changeable environment in coastal wetland

• The role and effect of ecological restoration or management strategies on coastal wetland

• New findings, mechanisms or implications of natural based solutions in coastal wetland

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
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• ... 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
• 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 wetlands, climate change, ecological process, adaptive solutions, conservation

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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