Coastal wetlands are being rapidly lost under urban expansion, yet many threatened marine invertebrates depend on these habitats during early life stages. The endangered tri-spine horseshoe crab Tachypleus tridentatus relies on suitable intertidal flats as juvenile nursery habitat, but conservation planning is hindered by weak historical baselines. Fujian Province was historically a major population center of this species in China, but its coastline has experienced intensive reclamation, port development and shoreline artificialization. Here, we integrated historical records, systematic field surveys and long-term wetland mapping to assess habitat baselines for T. tridentatus along this rapidly urbanized coast. Historical information from published and grey literature was compiled, juvenile populations were surveyed using systematic quadrats at eight key nursery habitats in summer 2025, and changes in unvegetated tidal flats were quantified from 1985 to 2024. Historical evidence indicates a shift from coastwide, fishery-supporting populations in Xiamen, Pingtan and Dongshan Bay to fragmented nurseries with low observed juvenile density. In 2025, no juveniles were detected within the survey quadrats at Xiangbiwan, whereas Aoyuan had the highest density and occupancy among surveyed sites. Juvenile abundance showed no consistent coastwide relationship with distance from the shoreline, but descriptive spatial visualization revealed strong local aggregation, indicating patchy use of suitable microhabitats. Long-term wetland analysis showed substantial city-level changes in unvegetated tidal flats, with Xiamen having the smallest remaining area and the greatest net loss relative to 1985. These findings identify priority nursery habitats for protection and restoration, and provide a practical baseline framework for conserving data-poor coastal invertebrates under rapid urbanization.
Long-term ex situ conservation of wild plant seeds is a core strategy for maintaining biodiversity, and seed banks play a pivotal role in this effort. This study analyzed the long-term storability of 232 species native to South Korea, stored at −18℃ for 20 years at the Korea National Arboretum Seed Bank, by monitoring changes in seed viability at 0, 10, and 20 years. The overall average germination rate gradually declined from 68.92% initially to 65.88% at 10 years and 60.98% at 20 years, confirming the general effectiveness of standard drying and subzero storage protocols for wild seeds. A detailed analysis of germination patterns revealed substantial species-specific variation; 134 species maintained germination relative to their initial values or retained germination above 70% after 20 years (Group 1), 45 species maintained germination through 10 years but declined by 20 years (Group 2), and 31 species showed declines by the 10-year assessment (Group 3). Notably, some species previously predicted as orthodox experienced unexpected viability losses in long-term storage. This suggests that predictions based solely on short-term storage experiments or accelerated aging tests may not fully capture viability patterns under empirical long-term seed bank conditions exceeding 20 years. In conclusion, this study suggests that accounting for variation in longevity among species is crucial for the stable conservation of wild plant seeds and emphasizes the need to implement refined, periodic monitoring systems and conservation strategies that reflect taxonomic traits, rather than relying solely on generalized predictive values or broad storage-behaviour categories.
Urban coastal restoration is essential for maintaining ecosystem health while meeting societal needs. However, evaluation of its multidimensional outcomes remains limited. This study assessed the long-term restoration effectiveness of Wuyuan Bay, one of China’s earliest urban coastal restoration initiatives, using a multidimensional framework tailored to its restoration objectives. This framework included ecological environmental quality, ecosystem process, and cultural ecosystem service. We quantified restoration effectiveness from 2000 to 2020, examined synergies among the three modules, and assessed spatial spillover effects. Recovery across indicators and modules was asynchronous. Seven of the eight indicators exhibited varying degrees of improvement. Nutrient-related indicators and cultural ecosystem services improved rapidly, with an increase of 0.41–0.64. Meanwhile, dissolved oxygen and benthic species richness declined initially and recovered slowly. At the module level, the cultural ecosystem service exhibited the greatest improvement, followed by ecological environmental quality, and ecosystem process. The phased analysis of integrated effectiveness showed a pronounced lag effect. The integrated assessment score increased by 64.40% over the 20-year period with over 80% of this improvement occurred in the decade following restoration rather than immediately after restoration, which highlighted the necessity of long-term monitoring and assessment of restoration projects. Synergy analysis indicated the strongest coupling between ecological environmental quality and ecosystem process, with other module relationships evolving. Restoration-associated positive changes showed a spatial distance-decay pattern extending to approximately one km from the intervention sites. Overall, our study showed that different dimensions of coastal ecosystem restoration recovered at varying rates and exhibited dynamic interconnections, providing scientific evidence to support long-term assessment and adaptive management of urban coastal restoration.
Exploring the patterns of biodiversity across multiple facets of river ecosystems and their driving factors is crucial for biodiversity conservation. As the most important tributary of the lower Lancang River, the Buyuan River remains largely unexplored in terms of systematic research on its fish diversity patterns and driving factors. Here, we explored the fish taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional diversity at both alpha and beta levels and their driving factors in the Buyuan River basin. Results showed that fish alpha and beta diversity across different facets in the Buyuan River basin exhibit distinct patterns, and the relationships among various facets of diversity had a degree of independence. Univariate Spearman correlation analysis with FDR correction showed that environmental variables and spatial variables jointly shaped the alpha diversity patterns of fish across three facets in the Buyuan River. Redundancy analysis and variation partitioning analysis indicated that the combined effects of spatial and environmental factors shaped the taxonomic and functional beta diversity patterns of fish in the Buyuan River. Specifically, environmental factors explained more of the variation in taxonomic beta diversity (adjusted R² = 0.364) and its turnover components (adjusted R² = 0.338) than did spatial factors (all adjusted R² values were close to 0), whereas environmental factors (adjusted R2 = 0) explained less of the variation in the nestedness components of taxonomic beta diversity than did spatial factors (adjusted R2 = 0.042). Similarly, functional beta diversity exhibited the same pattern. However, phylogenetic beta diversity (adjusted R2 = 0) and its turnover (adjusted R2 = 0.056) and nestedness (adjusted R2 = 0) components were insensitive to both environmental and spatial factors. This study emphasizes the necessity of employing multifaceted diversity indicators in biodiversity assessments, as different facets of diversity provide complementary information.
