Evaluation method for the assessment of artificial coast ecological level: Typical coasts of Tianjin, China

Ecological problems such as coastal damage and hardening are prominent and can be influenced by human activity. It is necessary to carry out ecological restoration tailored to specific coastal ecological conditions. To obtain comparable evaluation results for coast ecological level and analyze the influencing factors, this study presented an evaluation method based on the ecological scenarios of coast sub-parts according to the structural heterogeneity of coast cross-sections. An empirical study of nine typical artificial coasts of Tianjin, China, determined that under the unified assessment guidelines, the overall ecological level of the living coasts was the highest, with fishery coasts being second highest. Meanwhile, the ecological level of the general defense coasts was poor; The load values of each principal component were obtained through principal component analysis, and the significant factors affecting the ecological level of the coast were selected. An orientation system for the ecological restoration of the typical artificial coasts of Tianjin was then established accordingly, which would be useful for guiding future ecological restoration work in coastal areas.