Ecological connectivity between land and sea: a review

Abstract

Land–sea ecological connectivity refers to the interaction (convenience or hindrance) of certain physical, chemical and biological processes between terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Research on land–sea ecological connectivity can provide important scientific bases for the conservation and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems in terrestrial and coastal areas. On the basis of a literature summary of ecological connectivity, this paper focuses on the following: (1) summarizing basic concepts, representative phenomena on multiple spatiotemporal scales, and analysis methods of land–sea ecological connectivity; (2) discussion of the applications of land–sea ecological connectivity; (3) discussion of the relationship between human activities and land–sea ecological connectivity; (4) presentation of perspectives and recommendations on ecological restoration, protection, and biodiversity research, with emphasis on the principle of land–sea ecological connectivity. On the whole, we believe such connectivity in a region varies with changes in multiple physical and artificial factors, such as climate, land cover, biotic community and human activities. Human activities such as land use, engineering construction, urbanization and industrialization have continuously increased and cause irreversible disturbance and destruction of land–sea ecological connectivity, thereby threatening biodiversity and ecosystem services at various spatiotemporal scales. Hence, achievements of theoretical research and practical experience in ecological connectivity should be fully applied in coastal areas to maintain and restore land–sea ecological connectivity and remedy various problems that arise from the blockage and damage of ecosystem services.

Seasonal distribution of the Indo‐Pacific humpback dolphins: Implications for coastal habitat management

“…Land uses including aquaculture/agriculture, forestry, and urbanization (Gorman, Russell & Connell, 2009; Waterhouse et al, 2016; Bierschenk, Savage & Matthaei, 2017; Gong et al, 2019), should be especially targeted. For marine megafauna that frequently utilize estuaries such as the humpback dolphins, relevant conservation management needs to address the characteristic land‐sea connectivity in coastal waters (Beger et al, 2010; Álvarez‐Romero et al, 2011; Fang et al, 2018).…”

Biodiversity and ecosystems in Asia: studies and activities of International Long‐Term Ecological Research Network in East Asia and Pacific

“…Leopardas et al (2018) use data from the Japanese 'Monitoring Sites 1000' program to examine broad-scale variations in marine biodiversity patterns in seagrass benthic communities. Finally, Fang et al (2018) make special reference to the implications of classification methods used in different studies and interactions with human activities for ecosystem conservation and restoration in their review of ecological connectivity between land and sea.…”

Variation in Species Composition, Size and Fitness of Two Multi-Species Sea Turtle Assemblages Using Different Neritic Habitats

“…Neritic habitat is also where most anthropogenic threats occur in the oceans. The majority of oil and gas platforms are in water depths < 300 m (Muehlenbachs et al, 2013), commercial shrimping activity occurs primarily in neritic waters (McDaniel et al, 2000), vessel strikes appear to have higher mortality rates in nearshore than offshore waters (Foley et al, 2019), and because of its proximity to land, neritic waters suffer from increased levels of pollution (Fang et al, 2017). Although these activities result in broadscale impacts to habitats that most likely affect organisms on the community-level, many studies focus only on single-species (Hart et al, 2014;Eguchi et al, 2020;Ramirez et al, 2020).…”