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Impacts of Climate Change & Human Activities on Wetland Ecosystems, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Water and Climate Change".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 March 2027 | Viewed by 948

Editors


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Guest Editor
Wetland Research Center, Institute of Ecological Conservation and Restoration, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China
Interests: wetland ecosystem services; climate change; carbon cycle; microbiology; protection and restoration
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Guest Editor
Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
Interests: soil biogeochemistry; terrestrial carbon cycling; plant–soil–microbe interactions
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Guest Editor
Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, CAS, Changchun 130102, China
Interests: remote sensing of optical properties and water quality, carbon cycles, and eutrophication in inland water and wetland ecosystems
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Guest Editor
School of Water and Environment, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710054, China
Interests: carbon cycles in wetlands; climate change; potential toxic elements
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent decades, wetland ecosystems have faced increasing pressures from both climate change and human activities. The complex interplay of changing climatic patterns, alterations in precipitation and rising global temperatures has significantly impacted wetland habitats. These natural environmental changes have disrupted the delicate balance of wetland material cycles and energy flows, resulting in biodiversity losses, alterations in habitat suitability and disturbances in ecological functions. Additionally, human interventions such as intensified land-use conversion, unsustainable resource extraction and pollution have exacerbated these impacts, compromising the health and resilience of wetland ecosystems.

The focus of this Special Issue is to deepen our understanding of the impacts of climate change and human activities on wetland ecosystems, while also exploring strategies to mitigate and address these challenges. Our aim is to provide crucial theoretical insights and practical solutions for the pollution control, conservation and sustainable management of wetland resources. This Special Issue invites original research articles and reviews on a wide range of topics, including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Wetland material nutrient cycles and energy flows: Studies examining how climate change and anthropogenic activities influence the cycling of nutrients, water, productivity and other essential materials within wetland plant and soil, as well as the dynamics of energy flow within these systems.
  • Effectiveness of wetland ecological conservation and restoration: Evaluations of various conservation measures and restoration projects aimed at revitalizing degraded wetlands, focusing on their success rates, challenges encountered and long-term ecological impacts.
  • Wetland pollution and remediation projects: Research on the sources, types and impacts of pollutants in wetlands, as well as innovative technologies and methodologies for their effective treatment and management.
  • Assessment of wetland ecosystem services: Comprehensive evaluations of the multiple services provided by wetlands, such as water purification, flood control, carbon sink function, biodiversity support and cultural values and the implications of their degradation for human societies and ecosystems.
  • Regulation of wetland hydrological processes: Exploring the relationship between wetland hydrology and ecological processes, simulating eco-hydrological regulation and constructing wetland eco-hydrological coupling models.
  • Wetland Greenhouse Gas (GHGs) fluxes: Focusing on greenhouse gas fluxes (CO2, N2O and CH4) under global warming conditions and examining the environmental factors that control each GHG flux.
  • Wetland water environment quality: Investigations into the factors influencing the water quality of wetland ecosystems, including pollutant sources, nutrient loading and hydrological dynamics, as well as strategies for monitoring, maintaining and improving water quality in these vital ecosystems.

We welcome contributions that offer fresh perspectives, robust data and actionable recommendations to foster a deeper understanding and promote sustainable stewardship of wetland ecosystems in the face of ongoing environmental challenges.

Dr. Zhongqing Yan
Dr. Guopeng Liang
Dr. Yingxin Shang
Dr. Xueping Wang
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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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.

Keywords

  • wetland ecosystems
  • ecosystem services and functions
  • protection and restoration
  • climate change and human activities
  • wetland hydrological processes
  • greenhouse gas (GHGs) fluxes
  • nutrient cycle and energy flow
  • water environment quality

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

22 pages, 5776 KB  
Article
Impacts of Cascade Reservoir Construction, Climate Change, Socioeconomic Development and the Grain-for-Green Project on the Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Land Use and Land Cover in the Upper Yellow River: A Case Study of the Hualong–Xunhua Section, Qinghai Province, China
by Ruishou Ba, Yiyang Liu, Zejun Xia, Gaofeng Dong, Shanhu Xiao, Youjing Yuan, Xueping Wang and Zhoufeng Wang
Water 2026, 18(14), 1680; https://doi.org/10.3390/w18141680 - 10 Jul 2026
Viewed by 566
Abstract
The Cascade Reservoir System (CRS) in the upper Yellow River delivers integrated benefits (flood control, water supply, hydro-power generation, and ecological regulation), but it also alters the natural runoff regime and exerts non-negligible impacts on the regional eco-environment. However, the long-term trajectory of [...] Read more.
The Cascade Reservoir System (CRS) in the upper Yellow River delivers integrated benefits (flood control, water supply, hydro-power generation, and ecological regulation), but it also alters the natural runoff regime and exerts non-negligible impacts on the regional eco-environment. However, the long-term trajectory of reservoir-cascade effects on land use/land cover (LULC) in alpine basins has not yet been systematically quantified. Here, we focused on the Hualong-Xunhua reach and delineated two impact domains—the Reservoir Influence Zone (RIZ, enclosed by the first-order mountain ridge lines closest to the river channel representing direct hydrological impacts) and the Local Microclimate Influence Zone (LMIZ, spanning from the first-order ridges to the outer watershed boundary representing indirect climatic impacts)—to investigate the spatiotemporal dynamics of LULC associated with reservoir development. Results show that, from 1985 to 2023 in the CRS area, cropland and shrub-land decreased by 89.56 km2 (−16.09%) and 9.41% (−9.41%), respectively, whereas forest and grassland increased by 79.92 km2 (+14.36%) and 7.74% (+7.74%). Within the RIZ, cropland declined by 29.49 km2 (−20.14%), while water bodies increased markedly by 32.19 km2 (+22%); forest cover also expanded by 9.09 km2 (+6.21%). In the LMIZ, forest and grassland exhibited pronounced increases of 70.83 km2 (+17.27%) and 39.37 km2 (+9.60%), respectively. Correlation analysis indicates that GDP and air temperature are strongly and positively correlated with forest, water bodies, and impervious surfaces (Pearson’s r > 0.9), whereas cropland shows significant negative correlations with GDP, forest, and grassland (Pearson’s r < −0.8). Overall, the distinct spatiotemporal contrasts between the RIZ and LMIZ, coupled with the temporal alignment of cropland-to-forest transitions post-2000, suggest that reservoir-cascade construction and the Grain-for-Green Project are associated with these major LULC transitions, serving as contributing factors, while temperature rise and GDP growth represented the background environmental and socioeconomic context. These findings provide data support and a conceptual basis for long-term monitoring and assessment of eco-environmental responses to reservoir cascade development, and offer scientific evidence particularly relevant to reservoir planning and management in high-altitude cold regions. Full article
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