title: Reclamation history and development intensity determine soil and vegetation characteristics on developed coasts.
abstract: The question of where and how to carry out reclamation work in coastal areas is still not well addressed in coastal research. To answer the question, it is essential to quantify the impact of reclamation and the associated ecological and/or environmental responses. In this study, ordinary least square (OLS) analysis and geographical weighted regression (GWR) analysis were performed to identify the reclamation variables that affect soil and vegetation characteristics. Reclamation related variables, including residential population (RP), years of reclamation (YR), income per capita (IP), and land use-based human impact index (HII), were used to explain nitrate, ammonium, total phosphorous, and heavy metals in soil, and the height, density, and above-ground biomass of native hydrophytic vegetation. It was found that variables IP, RP, and HII could be used to explain the height of Scirpus and Phragmites australis as well as above-ground biomass with a R2value of no >0.55, and almost all the variables could explain the hydrophytic vegetation characteristics with a higher R2value. In comparison to OLS, GWR more reliably reflected the reclamation effects on soil and vegetation characteristics. By GWR analysis, total soil phosphorous, and nitrate and ammonium nitrogen could be explained by RP, YR, and HII, with the highest Ad-R2value of 0.496, 0.631 and 0.632, respectively. Both of the GWR and OLS analysis revealed that HII and RP were the better variables for explaining the soil and vegetation characteristics. This work demonstrated that coastal reclamation was highly spatial dependent, which sheds a light on the future development of spatial explicit and process-based models to guide coastal reclamation around the world.
authors.affiliation: College of Fisheries and Life Science, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, PR China; Department of Environmental Sciences, College of Coast and Environment, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA. Electronic address: sfang4@lsu.edu.
authors.forename: Shubo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Riverine Ecological Conservation and Technology, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiaobo
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: College of Fisheries and Life Science, Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306, PR China.
authors.forename: Qingteng
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory for Bioresources of Coastal Saline Soils, Yancheng Teachers University, Yancheng, 224002, PR China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, College of Coast and Environment, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
authors.forename: Grace
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cagle
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental Sciences, College of Coast and Environment, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
authors.forename: Aixin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hou
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D002681:China; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000032:analysis; D006109:Poaceae / Q000254:growth & development*; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry*; D053833:Wetlands
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012987:Soil; D010758:Phosphorus; D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Coastal reclamation; Geographical weighted regression analysis; Land use; Soil nitrogen and phosphorous; Vegetation structure