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  • Review Article
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Coastal wetland resilience through local, regional and global conservation

Nature Reviews Biodiversity volume 1, pages 50–67 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Coastal wetlands, including tidal marshes, mangrove forests and tidal flats, support the livelihoods of millions of people. Understanding the resilience of coastal wetlands to the increasing number and intensity of anthropogenic threats (such as habitat conversion, pollution, fishing and climate change) can inform what conservation actions will be effective. In this Review, we synthesize anthropogenic threats to coastal wetlands and their resilience through the lens of scale. Over decades and centuries, anthropogenic threats have unfolded across local, regional and global scales, reducing both the extent and quality of coastal wetlands. The resilience of existing coastal wetlands is driven by their quality, which is modulated by both physical conditions (such as sediment supply) and ecological conditions (such as species interactions operating from local through to global scales). Protection and restoration efforts, however, are often localized and focus on the extent of coastal wetlands. The future of coastal wetlands will depend on an improved understanding of their resilience, and on society’s actions to enhance both their extent and quality across different scales.

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Fig. 1: Coastal wetlands link the land and the ocean, and provide services to humans.
Fig. 2: Global patterns in the distribution and biodiversity of coastal wetlands.
Fig. 3: Anthropogenic threats to coastal wetlands.
Fig. 4: Ecological drivers of coastal wetland resilience.
Fig. 5: Conservation progress for coastal wetland resilience.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank A. H. Altieri, M. D. Bertness, B. Cui, B. Li, B. R. Silliman and J. Wu for their advice about our coastal wetland studies over the years. We acknowledge the support of grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32425037, 32271601) and the National Key Basic Research and Development Program (2022YFC3105402).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, National Observation and Research Station for Wetland Ecosystems of the Yangtze Estuary, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

    Qiang He & Zu’ang Li

  2. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), UNMdP, CONICETC, Mar del Plata, Argentina

    Pedro Daleo

  3. University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Cambridge, MD, USA

    Jonathan S. Lefcheck

  4. Centre for Integrative Ecology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

    Mads S. Thomsen

  5. Institute for Coastal and Marine Research, Department of Botany, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa

    Janine B. Adams

  6. Department of Estuarine & Delta Systems, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Yerseke, The Netherlands

    Tjeerd J. Bouma

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Contributions

Q.H. led the writing, with contributions from all authors. Z.L. and Q.H. researched data and conceptualized the figures for the article. All authors contributed substantially to discussion of the content. All authors reviewed and/or edited the manuscript before submission.

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Correspondence to Qiang He.

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Related links

Blue Carbon Initiative: https://www.thebluecarboninitiative.org/

Chesapeake Bay Program: https://www.chesapeakebay.net/

International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species: https://www.iucnredlist.org/

Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework: https://www.cbd.int/gbf

Natura 2000 protected areas network: http://natura2000.eea.europa.eu/

Protected Planet: https://www.protectedplanet.net/

Ramsar Convention on Wetlands: https://www.ramsar.org/

United Nations’ Green Climate Fund: https://www.greenclimate.fund/

Supplementary information

Glossary

Accretion

The build-up of habitats including wetlands through the deposition of sediments.

Blue carbon

The carbon stored in coastal wetlands and other marine ecosystems, including tidal marshes, mangrove forests and tidal flats.

Blue justice

The equitable use and management of marine resources by all stakeholders, particularly local communities.

Coastal squeeze

The loss of coastal wetlands caused by rising sea levels at the seaward side and by human-made structures (such as seawalls) that prevent wetland migration at the landward side.

Eutrophication

The process by which an ecosystem becomes excessively enriched with nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus.

Evolutionary rescue

A process by which a population avoids extinction through genetic adaptation.

Mangrove forests

Coastal wetlands characterized by the presence of salt-tolerant trees and shrubs adapted to thrive in the intertidal zones.

Ocean acidification

The process by which the ocean becomes more acidic, often due to the absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Portfolio effect

In a multi-species ecosystem, the statistical averaging of the different (even opposite) responses of individual species reduces overall variability.

Rapid evolution

Substantial genetic changes in a population over a relatively short period of time, often in response to anthropogenic threats such as climate change or habitat loss.

Resilience

The capacity to reduce the effects of a disturbance and subsequently recover from it.

Tidal flats

Coastal wetlands flooded and drained by tides and characterized typically by soft sediments without the cover of vegetation or other conspicuous biotic structures.

Tidal marshes

Coastal wetlands flooded and drained by tides, often covered by herbaceous plants such as grasses, sedges and forbs.

Tidal prism

The volume of water contained in a coastal wetland between the mean high and low tides.

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He, Q., Li, Z., Daleo, P. et al. Coastal wetland resilience through local, regional and global conservation. Nat. Rev. Biodivers. 1, 50–67 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44358-024-00004-x

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