Situated in the most dynamic ocean-land-atmosphere interaction zone on Earth, the coastal ocean possesses rich biological resources with highest biodiversity. It also hosts the most concentrated socioeconomic activities, and therefore, is a key conjunction zone of natural ecology and human dimensions, as human-ocean nexus. How to predict the disturbance of these socioeconomic activities on coastal ecosystems is a pressing challenge for the scientific community, and we contend more systematic and integrative studies are urgently needed.

This project selects 4 core areas of socio-economic development in China, i.e. Bohai Sea Economic Circle, Yangtze River Delta, West-strait Economic Zone and Greater Bay Area as its research and demonstration areas. It sought to review the current understanding to the human-coastal ocean nexus with a core perception of sustainable developments. We attempt to examine the key physical, biogeochemical, and socioeconomic processes governing the evolution and dynamics of the nexus, reflected largely in the tipping point and resilience of the coupled systems between natural ecosystems and human dimension.

Principal investigator: Minhan Dai (mdai@xmu.edu.cn)