Where Land Meets Sea: Terrestrial Influences on Coastal Environments

Dear Colleagues,

Characteristics of terrestrial environments and land-based activities often determine the quality, resilience, and health of coastal waters and ecosystems, yet much research, and many management and policy initiatives, still treat terrestrial, estuarine, and marine systems as separate entities, with limited regard to the linkages and exchanges between them. Elevated inputs of nutrients, sediments, and chemical and biological contaminants, from agriculture and industry, conurbations, and human activity, enter water courses and travel through river networks to the sea, impacting the environments through which they flow and affecting the health and resilience of the entire ecosystem, of which humans are a part. The UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme highlights the environmental burden of projected food production needs and the fact that more than 80% of sewage in developing countries is discharged untreated into water bodies. The ever-present pressure of climate change adds further uncertainty to the sustainability of land management choices, future terrestrial habitat and species distributions, and, by association, the resilience of the coastal margin and adjacent waters.

This Special Issue looks at the close relationship between land and coastal systems, examining the direct and indirect impacts of human populations and activity in river catchments and coastal areas, and how they influence, and are influenced by, the sea.

We welcome papers that consider “where land meets sea” from the perspectives of catchment management and coastal water quality, options for sustainable food production, food security and food safety, resilience of estuarine and coastal ecosystems, and aquatic health. Of particular interest are papers that focus on the interconnectedness of terrestrial and coastal marine systems and the interplay between human activity and the natural environment, highlighting the potential for integrated management to promote health and resilience across domains.

Dr. Paulette Posen
Dr. Naomi Greenwood
Dr. Michelle Devlin
Dr. Carlos Campos
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.