Changes of coastline and tidal flat and its implication for ecological protection under human activities: Take China’s Bohai Bay as an example

Abstract

The change processes and trends of shoreline and tidal flat forced by human activities are essential issues for the sustainability of coastal area, which is also of great significance for understanding coastal ecological environment changes and even global changes. Based on field measurements, combined with Linear Regression (LR) model and Inverse Distance Weighing (IDW) method, this paper presents detailed analysis on the change history and trend of the shoreline and tidal flat in Bohai Bay. The shoreline faces a high erosion chance under the action of natural factors, while the tidal flat faces a different erosion and deposition patterns in Bohai Bay due to the impact of human activities. The implication of change rule for ecological protection and recovery is also discussed. Measures should be taken to protect the coastal ecological environment. The models used in this paper show a high correlation coefficient between observed and modeling data, which means that this method can be used to predict the changing trend of shoreline and tidal flat. The research results of present study can provide scientific supports for future coastal protection and management.

Keywords

Shoreline / Tidal flat / Erosion deposition patterns / Changing trend / Ecological protection / Human activity / Linear regression model / Inverse distance weighing method / Prediction / Bohai Bay

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Fu Wang and Yong Li conceived of the presented idea. Yong Li and Fu Wang wrote the manuscript in consultation. Yong Li and Fu Wang developed the numerical models. Yong Li, Heng Yu, Fu Wang and Fei-cui Wang provided figures and tables in the manuscript. Ming-zheng Wen and Peng Yang contributed to field measurements and helped supervise the project. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript.

Declaration of competing interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(41602205,42293261), the China Geological Survey Program (DD20189506, DD20211301), the Special Investigation Project on Science and Technology Basic Resources of the Ministry of Science and Technology (2021FY101003), the Central Guidance for Local Scientific and Technological Development Fund of 2023 and the Project of Hebei University of Environmental Engineering (GCY202301). During the year of 2020, the first author was a visiting scholar at the Boston University of USA. He is grateful to China Scholarship Council (CSC) and China Geological Survey (CGS) for providing the opportunity.

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