[Coastal wetlands and global change:Research progress, trends, and challenges.]

Abstract

Coastal wetlands are unique ecosystems formed by the interaction between land and sea, serving as important ecological barriers supporting sustainable development. They possess high biological productivity, strong ecological resilience, and significant carbon sink functions, but are currently under dual pressures from intense human activities and global climate change. Here, I systematically sorted out the development context and trends of research on coastal wetlands' response to global change. The global research on coastal wetlands has achieved multiple key transformations. At the cognitive level, it has shifted from a die-off prediction of coastal wetlands under climate stress to a resilience cognition that emphasizes active ecological adaptation. In mechanism research, it has expanded from focusing on regional processes to basin-scale coupled intervention. The concept of conservation and restoration has upgraded from "area priority" to "quality orientation". The realization of ecological value has moved from the scientific cognition level to market-oriented practice. These transformations indicate that the research, conservation and restoration of coastal wetlands have entered a new stage of development. Meanwhile, this field still faces core challenges, including insufficient analysis of multi-interface ecological processes and driving mechanisms, imperfect precise simulation and decision support systems, and immature technologies for ecological function improvement. In the future, the research, conservation, and restoration of coastal wetlands should adhere to the principles of land-sea coordination and sustainable development, with the core goals of enhancing ecological resilience, maximizing ecological functions, and promoting the marketization of ecological value. It is necessary to focus on deepening the analysis of multi-interface processes and mechanisms, constructing a precise simulation and decision support system, developing near-natural ecological restoration and synergistic efficiency technologies, improving the ecological product trading system, and building a land-sea coordinated protection pattern to realize the synergistic governance of river basins and coastal zones.