Advances in Coastal Ecosystem Structure, Function and Dynamics

Dear Colleagues,

Coastal ecosystems—including sandy beaches, estuaries, tidal flats, salt marshes, mangroves, seagrass meadows and nearshore waters—are among the most productive and dynamic environments on Earth. Their structure and functioning are controlled by complex interactions among hydrodynamic forcing, sediment transport, geomorphological evolution, biological communities and biogeochemical cycling. These systems provide essential ecosystem services, including shoreline protection, carbon sequestration, nutrient regulation and habitat provision. However, they are increasingly threatened by sea-level rise, climate variability, extreme events, land-use change, pollution and other anthropogenic pressures.

This Special Issue aims to advance scientific understanding of the structure, function and dynamics of coastal ecosystems across spatial and temporal scales. We invite original research articles and comprehensive reviews that explore the mechanisms driving ecosystem responses to natural forcing and human disturbance, assess resilience and recovery processes and contribute to improved prediction and management strategies.

This collection values the integration of numerical modelling and remote sensing approaches with field observations and experimental studies. Numerical models—ranging from hydrodynamic and morphodynamic models to ecological and biogeochemical frameworks—are essential tools for analysing process interactions, testing hypotheses and projecting future scenarios under climate change. Contributions that develop or apply coupled physical–biological models, data-assimilation techniques, or data-driven and machine-learning approaches are particularly welcome.

Remote sensing technologies provide synoptic, multi-temporal observations that are critical for monitoring shoreline evolution, habitat distribution, vegetation dynamics, water quality and primary productivity. Studies that integrate satellite imagery, UAV surveys, airborne sensors, coastal radar, or other geospatial datasets with modelling and in situ measurements are strongly encouraged. Such interdisciplinary approaches enhance our capacity to capture system variability, validate model outputs and improve predictive capability.

We invite contributions that span a range of topics, including but not limited to:

• Coastal morphodynamics and ecosystem feedbacks;
• Habitat mapping and change detection;
• Impacts of extreme events;
• Interactions between physical forcing and ecosystem structure;
• Biogeochemical cycling and feedbacks under changing environmental conditions;
• Species distribution and connectivity, dispersal and population dynamics of coastal species in response to hydrodynamic regimes;
• Impacts of human activities and natural disturbances on coastal resilience and recovery;
• Methodological advances in high-resolution monitoring and modelling of coastal systems.

By assembling research at the interface of observation, theory and computational analysis, this Special Issue seeks to promote interdisciplinary research and to improve our collective capacity to understand and manage coastal ecosystems in the face of rapid environmental change. We encourage submissions that address global and regional case studies, comparative analyses across systems and methodological innovations that can be broadly applied within the coastal science community and support sustainable management of coastal ecosystems in a rapidly changing world.

Prof. Dr. João Miguel Dias
Guest Editor

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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sci 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 1400 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.