Abstract
We compared coastal restoration projects in a developing country, China, and a developed country, the United States of America, both of which are facing loss and degradation of coastal habitats at similar latitudes, for the period of 1992–2014. To document the scale of coastal habitat restoration projects in the two countries, we identified 914 coastal restoration projects with an accumulated area of 300,521 acres in China, with most of our information coming from scientific papers, and 1,620 coastal restoration projects with an accumulated area of 243,064 acres in the USA, with most of our information coming from public databases. In both countries, about half the projects were in wetland habitats, but China had a greater proportion of projects in submerged habitats (43% versus 28% in the USA) and the USA a greater proportion in coastal upland habitats (21% versus 9% in China). The number of new projects steadily increased over time in China, but dropped after 2006 in the USA, although the total cost of new projects continued to increase. The number of projects in China and the total cost of projects in the USA were correlated with national GDP. Restoration projects in China used fewer techniques, had fewer partners, and took longer to complete than projects in the USA. Information about projects was incomplete, especially in China, and both countries could do more to make information publically available. We know more about project construction than project outcomes, and it is unclear whether projects are achieving their goals or whether the techniques used are optimal.
Highlights
Coastal habitats play important roles in providing ecosystem services by supporting important organisms, preventing seawater intrusion, conserving biodiversity, moderating microclimate, and promoting nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration[1,2,3,4]
For the period of 1992–2014, we identified 914 coastal restoration projects located in the 11 coastal provinces of China (Fig. 1, Table S1)
Almost all of the information that we collected about projects in the USA came from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and National Estuaries Restoration Inventory (NERI) databases
Summary
Coastal habitats play important roles in providing ecosystem services by supporting important organisms, preventing seawater intrusion, conserving biodiversity, moderating microclimate, and promoting nutrient cycling and carbon sequestration[1,2,3,4]. Natural disturbances in coastal ecosystems include hurricanes, storms[6], saline intrusion, sea level rise[7,8], fire, outbreaks of herbivores[9,10] and wrack[11,12]. In addition to sea level rise, regional anthropogenic stresses threaten coastal habitats[18]. Over half of the natural coastal habitats in China have been lost during the last 60 years[23,26] Such disturbances, whether natural or anthropogenic, threaten coastal habitats directly by affecting primary and secondary productivity[6], community composition and distribution, and biodiversity[23], and indirectly, by affecting natural processes by reducing habitat heterogeneity and connectivity[2,23]. Www.nature.com/scientificreports loss of community structure and ecosystem functions is a loss of ecosystem services that degrade the quality of life of human populations
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call