The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) 2002 highlighted the integrated management from hilltops to oceans. The multidisciplinary and ecosystem approach has become a fundamental tool of developing realistic, ecologically sound, and cost-effective management strategies for river-estuary-coast systems. These systems have been suffering both anthropogenic and climatic perturbations, including population growth, land use/cover change, temperature and precipitation for some time. During the transport from river to estuary to coast, terrestrial constituents experience a series of biogeochemical and ecological processes.

As guest editors, Deli Wang, Nengwang Chen, Hongbin Liu (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) and Cindy Lee (Stony Brook University) organized a special issue in Estuarine Coastal and Shelf Science on December 5, 2015 (Volume 166, part B, pages 143-240). The subject is River-estuary-coast continuum: biogeochemistry and ecological response to increasing human and climatic changes.

The aim of this issue is to synthesize our knowledge of biogeochemical and ecological processes occurring across the river-estuary-coast continuum. This special issue is also dedicated to Dr. Huasheng Hong, a distinguished professor at Xiamen University, in honor of her remarkable scientific contribution to China's marine environmental programs.

10 research articles were included in this issue (full text linked below):

²  Preface: Haili Wang, Preface to the special issue honoring Huasheng Hong: Distinguished professor and mentor in China's marine environmental programs. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 166 (2015): 143.  

²  Editorial overview: Huasheng Hong, Nengwang Chen, Deli Wang, River-estuary-coast continuum: Biogeochemistry and ecological response to increasing human and climatic changes. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 166 (2015): 144-145.

²  Yan Li, Yi-ning Chen, Mei-na Ruan, Jia-wei Chen, The Jiulong River plume as cross-strait exporter and along-strait barrier for suspended sediment: Evidence from the endmember analysis of in-situ particle size. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 166 (2015): 146-152.

²  Jianing Wang, Weijin Yan, Nengwang Chen, Xinyan Li, Lusan Liu, Modeled long-term changes of DIN:DIP ratio in the Changjiang River in relation to Chl-α and DO concentrations in adjacent estuary. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 166 (2015): 153-160.

²  Liyang Yang, Chen-Tung Arthur Chen, Huasheng Hong, Yu-Chang Chang, Hon-Kit Lui, Mixing behavior and bioavailability of dissolved organic matter in two contrasting subterranean estuaries as revealed by fluorescence spectroscopy and parallel factor analysis. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 166 (2015): 161-169.

²  Jun Hu, Wenlu Lan, Bangqin Huang, Kuo-Ping Chiang, Huasheng Hong, Low nutrient and high chlorophyll a coastal upwelling system – A case study in the southern Taiwan Strait. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 166 (2015): 170-177.

²  Nengwang Chen, Yinqi Wu, Zhuhong Chen, Huasheng Hong, Phosphorus export during storm events from a human perturbed watershed, southeast China: Implications for coastal ecology. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 166 (2015): 178-188.

²  Meibing Liu, Xingwei Chen, Huaxia Yao, Ying Chen, A coupled modeling approach to evaluate nitrogen retention within the Shanmei Reservoir watershed, China. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 166 (2015): 189-198.

²  Wei-Dong Zhai, Kun-Peng Zang, Cheng Huo, Nan Zheng, Xue-Mei Xu, Occurrence of aragonite corrosive water in the North Yellow Sea, near the Yalu River estuary, during a summer flood. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 166 (2015): 199-208.

²  Zhenyu Zhang, Jinliang Huang, Yaling Huang, Huasheng Hong, Streamflow variability response to climate change and cascade dams development in a coastal China watershed. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 166 (2015): 209-217.

²  Hao Kong, Hui Lin, Benrong Peng, Nenwang Chen, Chenchen Lin, Samuel Fielding, Modelling the cost-effective solutions of nitrogen reduction in Jiulong River Watershed, China. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 166 (2015): 218-229.

²  W.L. Zhao, S.Y. Yang, J. Wang, J.M. Xiao, X.X. Lu, J. Lin, P. Huang, M.G. Cai, Load estimation and assessment of land-based pollution for Quanzhou Bay and their relevance to the Total Quantity Control of Pollutants Discharged into the Sea (TQCPS) Program in China. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science, 166 (2015): 230-239.