Search Results (1,769)

Climate change is a critical constraint on the development of new-quality productive forces (NQPFs), making it essential to clarify its relationship with urban development strategies to enhance productivity. Using panel data from 284 Chinese cities during 2010–2022, this study leverages the climate-resilient city pilot policy as a quasi-natural experiment and applies a double machine learning approach to estimate both the causal impact and underlying mechanisms of this policy on NQPFs. We further examine heterogeneous effects across geographic regions and city types. Our findings show that first, climate-resilient urban development significantly boosts NQPFs, with results remaining robust across multiple sensitivity tests. Second, this effect operates through three key channels—talent agglomeration, data flow enhancement, and infrastructure-related industrial upgrading. Third, the policy’s impact is stronger in western and coastal cities; resource-based cities and non-environmentally protected cities exhibit greater responsiveness, amplifying the positive outcomes. This study provides systematic empirical evidence on the nexus between climate resilience and high-quality development, offering actionable insights for designing localized strategies to advance climate-resilient urbanization and foster high-quality productive forces. Full article

Accurate mapping of marine aquaculture areas is critical for environmental management and sustainable development for marine ecosystem protection and sustainable resource utilization. However, remote sensing imagery based on single-sensor modalities has inherent limitations when extracting aquaculture zones in complex marine environments. To address this challenge, we constructed a multi-modal dataset from five Chinese coastal regions using cloud detection methods and developed Multi-modal Spatial–Frequency Adaptive Fusion Network (MSAFNet) for optical-radar data fusion. MSAFNet employs a dual-path architecture utilizing a Multi-scale Dual-path Feature Module (MDFM) that combines CNN and Transformer capabilities to extract multi-scale features. Additionally, it implements a Dynamic Frequency Domain Adaptive Fusion Module (DFAFM) to achieve deep integration of multi-modal features in both spatial and frequency domains, effectively leveraging the complementary advantages of different sensor data. Results demonstrate that MSAFNet achieves 76.93% mean intersection over union (mIoU), 86.96% mean F1 score (mF1), and 93.26% mean Kappa coefficient (mKappa) in extracting floating raft aquaculture (FRA) and cage aquaculture (CA), significantly outperforming existing methods. Applied to China’s coastal waters, the model generated 2020 nearshore aquaculture distribution maps, demonstrating its generalization capability and practical value in complex marine environments. This approach provides reliable technical support for marine resource management and ecological monitoring. Full article

The use of reclaimed water is crucial to prevent pollution from wastewater discharges and mitigate the water deficit faced by irrigation districts or other non-potable water users. Therefore, the zero-discharge strategy represents a significant challenge for coastal cities affected by marine pollution from effluents. In regions such as the Mediterranean arc, agricultural areas located near these cities are increasingly exposed to reduced water allocations or rising irrigation demands due to the impacts of climate change. To address this dual challenge, a circular system is proposed through the implementation of hybrid treatment technologies that enable zero wastewater discharge into the sea. This approach would contribute up to 30 hm³ of reclaimed water annually for irrigation, covering approximately 27,000 hectares of cropland in the province of Alicante. The proposed system integrates advanced techniques, such as reverse osmosis, to ensure irrigation water quality, while also considering partial blending strategies to optimize resource use. Additionally, constructed wetlands are incorporated to regulate and treat the reject streams produced by these processes, minimizing their environmental impact. This combined strategy enhances water reuse efficiency, strengthens agricultural resilience, and provides a sustainable model for managing water resources in coastal Mediterranean regions. Full article

Jiangsu Province is an important economic province on the eastern coast of China, revealing the spatial–temporal characteristics, dynamic degree, and transition direction of land use/cover change, and its main driving factors are significant for the effective use of land resources and the promotion of regional human–land coordinated development. Based on land use data of Jiangsu Province from 2000 to 2020, this study investigates the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics of land use/cover using the dynamics model and the transfer matrix model, and examines the influence and interaction of the driving factors between human activities and the natural environment based on 10-factor data using Geodetector. The results showed that (1) In the past 20 years, the type of land use/cover in Jiangsu Province primarily comprises cropland, water, and impervious, with the land use/cover change mode mainly consisting of a dramatic change in cropland and impervious and relatively little change in forest, grassland, water, and barren. (2) From the perspective of the dynamic rate of land use/cover change, the single land use dynamic degree showed that impervious is the only land type whose dynamics have positively increased from 2000 to 2010 and 2010 to 2020, with values of 3.67% and 3.03%, respectively. According to the classification of comprehensive motivation, the comprehensive land use motivation in Jiangsu Province in each time period from 2000 to 2010 and 2010 to 2020 is 0.46% and 0.43%, respectively, which belongs to the extremely slow change type. (3) From the perspective of land use/cover transfer, Jiangsu Province is mainly characterized by a large area of cropland transfer (−7954.30 km²) and a large area of impervious transfer (8759.58 km²). The increase in impervious is mainly attributed to the transformation of cropland and water, accounting for 4066.07 km² and 513.73 km² from 2010 to 2020, which indicates that the non-agricultural phenomenon of cropland in Jiangsu Province, i.e., the process of transforming cropland into non-agricultural construction land, is significant. (4) From the perspective of driving factors, population density (q = 0.154) and night light brightness (q = 0.156) have always been important drivers of land use/cover change in Jiangsu Province. The interaction detection indicates that the land use/cover change is driven by both socio-economic factors and natural geographic factors. (5) In response to the dual pressures of climate change and rapid urbanization, coordinating the multiple objectives of socio-economic development, food security, and ecological protection is the fundamental path to achieving sustainable land use in Jiangsu Province and similar developed coastal areas. By revealing the characteristics and driving factors of land use/cover change in Jiangsu Province, this study provides qualitative and quantitative theoretical support for the coordinated decision-making of economic development and land use planning in Jiangsu Province, specifically contributing to sustainable land planning, climate adaptation policy-making, and the enhancement of community well-being through optimized land use. Full article

The coastal waters of the northern Shandong Peninsula have abundant fishery resources, which serve as a critical transitional fishing ground for economic fish migrating into the Bohai Sea for spawning and departing for overwintering habitats. However, anthropogenic pressures such as garbage dumping have led to severe degradation of local fishery resources and concomitant adverse effects on zooplankton communities. To assess these impacts, we analyzed the spatiotemporal distribution, community structure, dominant species, and diversity indices of zooplankton based on sampling data collected in spring from 2015 to 2018 in this region. A total of 24 zooplankton species and 11 larval classes were identified, with the highest species richness observed in 2016. Calanus sinicus and Centropages abdominalis were the primary dominant species, with C. sinicus consistently predominant across all four years. Notably, the dominant species exhibited marked annual variability. The abundance and biomass of zooplankton in the surveyed area exhibited significant annual variations, both showing a trend of first decreasing and then increasing. Peak abundance occurred in 2015 (594.36 ind/m³), while the lowest was recorded in 2017 (118.73 ind/m³). Spatially, abundance and biomass were heterogeneous, with coastal waters exhibiting higher concentrations than offshore areas. The overall low level of community diversity and its significant annual variations indicated that the zooplankton community structure in the surveyed sea area was unstable and showed a trend of degenerative succession. The community structure of zooplankton and larger-bodied dominant species showed stronger correlations with phytoplankton dynamics, whereas smaller-bodied species were more influenced by water temperature. Full article

Soil mineral nutrient heterogeneity is a distinctive characteristic of coastal habitats, yet its impact on plant growth and development remains uncertain. The objective of the present study was to establish an experimental system for evaluating the influence of mineral nutrient availability on the development of three distinct short-lived wild coastal plant species: Phleum arenarium, Plantago coronopus, and Ranunculus sceleratus. These plants were cultivated in containers of different volumes employing an inert substrate with varying proportions of commercial garden soil in controlled conditions. Low mineral nutrient concentration served as a factor inhibiting plant vegetative growth for both P. arenarium and R. sceleratus plants, albeit with a substrate volume-dependent effect. In contrast, P. coronopus exhibited relatively low root biomass and exhibited minimal susceptibility to alterations in mineral nutrient concentration. Conversely, proportional allocation to roots decreased with increasing mineral nutrient concentration, mirroring the pattern observed for P. arenarium. Notably, for R. sceleratus, this effect was pronounced only at a high substrate volume. Furthermore, allocation to roots decreased with increasing substrate volume, but this occurred only at a high mineral nutrient concentration. The substrate, similar to that in coastal habitats, incorporated quartz sand with varying proportions of mineral-rich organic matter, providing comparable plant-available mineral concentrations for analyzing the effects of nutrient concentration, substrate volume, and genetic variability on plant growth and development. For future experiments, a wider range of mineral concentrations and more individual concentrations should be used to assess mineral availability more realistically. Full article

Trophic ecology is an important aspect to consider when studying interactions between species, especially in ecologically similar species. We studied the trophic ecology of three sympatric insectivorous lizards in a dune system in the Eastern Iberian Peninsula: Acanthodactylus erythrurus, Psammodromus algirus and Psammodromus edwardsianus. We obtained a total of 485 faecal samples and found 18 different prey groups. The trophic niche breath analysis showed that A. erythrurus was the most specialised species of the three. We also considered two different habitat types and, interestingly, both Psammodromus species had wider trophic niches in the more extreme habitat type where arthropod diversity is expected to be lower. Trophic niche overlaps were especially low between P. algirus and A. erythrurus, indicating resource partitioning, and higher between both Psammodromus species in the suboptimal habitat type. Our results lead to the conclusion that environmental stress could favour trophic generalism (increased trophic niche breadth). This is a very interesting result, especially in the context of climate change and habitat alteration. Full article

Coastal zones, as critical intersections of ecosystems, resource utilization, and socioeconomic activities, exhibit complex and diverse land cover types with frequent changes. Acquiring large-scale, high-quality annotated data in these areas is costly and time-consuming, which makes rule-based segmentation methods reliant on extensive annotations impractical. Few-shot semantic segmentation, which enables effective generalization from limited labeled samples, thus becomes essential for coastal region analysis. In this work, we propose an optimized few-shot segmentation method based on the Segment Anything Model (SAM) with a frozen-parameter segmentation backbone to improve generalization. To address the high visual similarity among coastal vegetation classes, we design a cross-matching module integrated with a hyper-correlation pyramid to enhance fine-grained visual correspondence. Additionally, a self-matching module is introduced to mitigate scale variations caused by UAV altitude changes. Furthermore, we construct a novel few-shot segmentation dataset, OUC-UAV-SEG-$2^{\mathrm{i}}$, based on the OUC-UAV-SEG dataset, to alleviate data scarcity. In quantitative experiments, the suggested approach outperforms existing models in mIoU and FB-IoU under ResNet50/101 (e.g., ResNet50’s 1-shot/5-shot mIoU rises by 4.69% and 4.50% vs. SOTA), and an ablation study shows adding CMM, SMM, and SAM boosts Mean mIoU by 4.69% over the original HSNet, significantly improving few-shot semantic segmentation performance. Full article

Analyzing the characteristics of soil salinization and conducting risk assessments are crucial for ensuring the sustainable development of agriculture and ecosystems. In order to analyze the characteristics of soil salinization and conduct a risk assessment in the Yellow River Delta region, 63 surface soil samples and 37 groundwater samples were collected from this area in August 2023. Based on the test results of the samples and using soil salt content as the criterion, the types, degrees, and risks of soil salinization in the Yellow River Delta region were analyzed separately. The results revealed a relatively high average soil salt content of 4.59 g/kg, with Na⁺ and Cl⁻ as the dominant ions. The primary salinization types were chloride and sulfate-chloride, covering 46.69% and 51.54% of the area, respectively. Moderate salinization was the most widespread, accounting for 45.35% of the region. Severe salinization, extremely severe salinization classes were mainly found in the coastal lowlands of the north and east, constituting 19.73% and 16.25% of the area, respectively. Groundwater exhibited transitional freshwater-saltwater characteristics, indicating widespread seawater intrusion across the region, which significantly contributed to soil salinity. Proximity to the Bohai Sea was the most critical factor influencing salinization, with areas closer to the sea showing a higher risk. High-risk zones, primarily along the coastline, covered 32.67% of the total area. The research findings can serve as valuable references for local wetland management and protection, the scientific enhancement of saline soils, rational soil utilization, effective prevention and control of soil salinization, and the sustainable development of water and soil resources. Full article

Climate change research is increasingly important in regions vulnerable to extreme hydrometeorological events like droughts, which pose significant socio-economic and environmental challenges. This study examines future variability of meteorological drought in northernmost South America using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and precipitation projections from CMIP6 models. We first evaluated model performance by comparing historical simulations with observational data from the Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station dataset for 1981–2014. Among the models, CNRM-CM6-1-HR was selected for its superior accuracy, demonstrated by the lowest errors and highest correlation with observed data—specifically, a correlation coefficient of 0.60, a normalized root mean square error of 1.08, and a mean absolute error of 61.37 mm/month. Under SSP1-2.6 and SSP5-8.5 scenarios, projections show decreased rainfall during the wet months in the western Perijá mountains, with reductions of 3% to 26% between 2025 and 2100. Conversely, the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta is expected to see increases of up to 33% under SSP1-2.6. During dry months, northern Colombia and Venezuela—particularly coastal lowlands—are projected to experience rainfall decreases of 10% to 17% under SSP1-2.6 and 13% to 20% under SSP5-8.5. These areas are likely to face severe drought conditions in the mid and late 21st century. These findings are essential for guiding water resource management, enabling adaptive strategies, and informing policies to mitigate drought impacts in the region. Full article

Salinity is a major abiotic stress that limits plant growth and survival. Colobanthus quitensis, the only native dicotyledon in the Antarctic Peninsula and southern South America, naturally inhabits environments with contrasting salinity regimes. This study compared the salt stress responses of three geographically distinct populations—Antarctic (pA), Magellanic coastal (pPA), and Andean inland (pC)—exposed to 0, 50, and 150 mM NaCl under controlled conditions. Morpho-physiological traits, photosynthetic parameters, osmolyte accumulation, oxidative damage markers, and antioxidant responses were evaluated. Population-specific strategies were observed. In pA, salinity reduced shoot biomass by 58% and doubled lipid peroxidation levels at 50 mM, indicating high oxidative stress. In pPA, shoot growth was maintained even at 150 mM, although chlorophyll and carotenoid contents decreased by approximately 20%, along with a reduction in total antioxidant capacity. In contrast, pC showed a coordinated tolerance response, maintaining biomass while accumulating the highest proline levels (742 µmol g⁻¹ FW at 150 mM) and enhancing total antioxidant capacity by 35% compared to the control. Multivariate analyses supported the contrasting strategies among populations. These results provide novel evidence of local adaptation and ecological plasticity in C. quitensis, particularly highlighting the hidden resilience of non-coastal populations. The findings support the potential of this extremophile species as a model system for investigating salinity tolerance and as a promising genetic resource for developing biotechnological strategies aimed at improving crop resilience under saline conditions. Full article

Pipelines and power cables are critical infrastructures in coastal areas for transporting energy resources from offshore renewable installations to onshore grids. It is important to investigate the hydrodynamic forces on pipelines and cables and their surrounding flow fields, which are highly related to their on-bottom stability. The time-varying hydrodynamic forces coefficients and unsteady surrounding flows of a near-seabed pipeline subjected to a wave-induced oscillatory boundary layer flow are studied through numerical simulations. The Keulegan–Carpenter numbers of the oscillatory flow are up to 400, which are defined based on the maximum undisturbed near-bed orbital velocity, the pipeline diameter and the period of the oscillatory flow. The investigated Reynolds number is set to $1\times {10}^4$, defined based on $U_w$ and $D$. The influences of different seabed roughness ratios $k_s/D$ (where $k_s$ is the Nikuradse equivalent sand roughness) up to 0.1 on the hydrodynamic forces and the flow fields are considered. Both a wall-mounted pipeline with no gap ratio to the bottom wall and a pipeline with different gap ratios to the wall are investigated. The correlations between the hydrodynamic forces and the surrounding flow patterns at different time steps during one wave cylinder are analyzed by using the force partitioning method and are discussed in detail. It is found that there are influences of the increasing $k_s/D$ on the force coefficients at large $\mathrm{K}\mathrm{C},$ while for the small $\mathrm{K}\mathrm{C}$, the inertial effect from the oscillatory flow dominates the force coefficients with small influences from different $k_s/D$. The FPM analysis shows that the elongated shear layers from the top of the cylinder contribute to the peak values of the drag force coefficients. Full article

Coastal areas are under intense pressure worldwide because diverse stakeholders rely on coastal resources, and the supply of land is highly limited. Coast-dependent economic activities like transportation and logistics infrastructure in the Jade Bay, Germany, have experienced extensive demand for land. The situation is more interesting because national parks encircle the seaport. Understanding the complex seaside–landside dynamics following the development of Jade Weser Port is crucial for promoting sustainability, as massive development exceeds existing spatial capacity. However, a comprehensive framework to assess land use conflicts when dealing with infrastructure development in sensitive coastal areas is often missing. We analyze the origin of land use developments and the planning process at different administrative levels by retracing land use changes from 1970 to 2015 using a time series of satellite images, analyzing planning documents, and examining realized activities. We look for an embedding of transport infrastructure development and its feedback on land use. As a consequence of land use conflicts, these land system dynamics create winners and losers across multidisciplinary aspects. Our findings reflect interdisciplinary aspects which discuss both societal changes and the constellation of inadequate planning approaches to address the complexity of coastal land use. The degree to which these activities cause land use conflicts depends on institutional settings, especially the consistency of ICZM and infrastructure planning. Full article

Protection of coastal cultural heritage is among the most urgent global priorities, as these sites face increasing threats from climate change, sea level rise, and human activity. This study emphasises the value of innovative geospatial tools and data ecosystems for timely risk assessment. The role of land administration systems, geospatial documentation of coastal cultural heritage sites, and the adoption of innovative techniques that combine various methodologies is crucial for timely action. The coastal management infrastructure in Greece is presented, outlining the key public authorities and national legislation, as well as the land administration and geospatial ecosystems and the various available geospatial ecosystems. We profile the Hellenic Cadastre and the Hellenic Archaeological Cadastre along with open geospatial resources, and introduce TRIQUETRA Decision Support System (DSS), produced through the EU’s Horizon project, and a Digital Twin methodology for hazard identification, quantification, and mitigation. Particular emphasis is given to the role of Digital Twin technology, which acts as a continuously updated virtual replica of coastal cultural heritage sites, integrating heterogeneous geospatial datasets such as cadastral information, photogrammetric 3D models, climate projections, and hazard simulations, allowing for stakeholders to test future scenarios of sea level rise, flooding, and erosion, offering an advanced tool for resilience planning. The approach is validated at the coastal archaeological site of Aegina Kolona, where a UAV-based SfM-MVS survey produced using high-resolution photogrammetric outputs, including a dense point cloud exceeding 60 million points, a 5 cm resolution Digital Surface Model, high-resolution orthomosaics with a ground sampling distance of 1 cm and 2.5 cm, and a textured 3D model using more than 6000 nadir and oblique images. These products provided a geospatial infrastructure for flood risk assessment under extreme rainfall events, following a multi-scale hydrologic–hydraulic modelling framework. Island-scale simulations using a 5 m Digital Elevation Model (DEM) were coupled with site-scale modelling based on the high-resolution UAV-derived DEM, allowing for the nested evaluation of water flow, inundation extents, and velocity patterns. This approach revealed spatially variable flood impacts on individual structures, highlighted the sensitivity of the results to watershed delineation and model resolution, and identified critical intervention windows for temporary protection measures. We conclude that integrating land administration systems, open geospatial data, and Digital Twin technology provides a practical pathway to proactive and efficient management, increasing resilience for coastal heritage against climate change threats. Full article

Coastal ecosystems sustain biodiversity, food resources, and human livelihoods, yet are increasingly exposed to climate change, pollution, and anthropogenic stressors. These pressures affect not only ecosystem integrity but also human health, highlighting the urgency of adopting the One Health framework. While One Health has gained global prominence, its systematic application in coastal and marine governance remains limited. This study provides the first bibliometric review of One Health research in coastal and marine contexts, analyzing 154 publications from Scopus (2003–2025) using Bibliometrix under PRISMA-S guidelines. Scientific output was minimal until 2015 but accelerated after 2020, peaking at 37 publications in 2024. Less than 20% of studies explicitly integrated all three One Health dimensions. Research has largely centered on environmental monitoring and aquaculture health, with antimicrobial resistance, climate–health linkages, and integrated coastal indicators underexplored. Keyword mapping revealed two distinct yet connected clusters: a biomedical cluster emphasizing antibiotics, resistance, and microbiology, and an environmental cluster focusing on pollution, ecosystems, and zoonotic risks. Outputs are geographically concentrated in high-income countries, particularly the USA, Brazil, and the UK, while contributions from low- and middle-income coastal regions remain scarce. These findings confirm both the rapid growth and the fragmentation of One Health scholarship in coastal contexts. By identifying gaps, trends, and collaboration patterns, this study builds an evidence base for embedding One Health in coastal monitoring, climate adaptation, and governance, advancing multiple United Nations’s Sustainable Development Goals. Full article