The coastal zone can be simply defined as an area of interaction between the land and the ocean. The dynamic processes that take place within the coastal zones produce diverse and productive ecosystems which have been of great importance historically for human populations.
Coastal zones contain rich resources to produce goods and services and are home to most commercial and industrial activities. Coastal margins equate to only 8% of the world's surface area and less than 15%of earth's land surface but host two-thirds of the world's cities and approximately 70% of the world's population and provide 25% of global productivity. The increasing stress was subsequently awakened to readjust the equilibrium between economic development and the environmental protection. The sustainable development then came to fruition afterwards.
South China coastal region is one of the areas with most developed economy and most concentrated human population of China. From 1979 to 1988, a series of coastal cities in south China, such as Fuzhou,Xiamen, Shantou, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Zhanjiang, Beihai, as well as Hainan Island, Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions, became the pioneers and antecessors, for carrying out the reform and opening up policy of China. Guangdong province has the longest coastal line and the broadest sea area in China. This unique dominance provided solid bases for developing the local economy. Driven by economic interest, the land secondary forests and intertidal mangrove ecosystems of Guangdong coastal zones and the islands were destroyed seriously. When facing with the barren cliffs and rocky slopes and bare wasteland of sand beaches, our hearts cried and shook, as did by the land. We cordially hope the injured environment can change into a green and vigorous landscape in future.
In recent years, the local governments and people gradually realized the importance of protecting the environment for the sustainable development of economy. They began to reconstruct the terrestrial and coastal vegetation by applying eco-restoration techniques and strengthen the administrative management to the coastal ecosystem. This book provide a practical strategy for restoring the damaged ecosystem in the coastal zones of south China. It may help to promote the sustainable development of local tertiary industry, maintain social harmony and stability, build protective barriers for eco-security, and achieve the great goal of promoting green development and building a “beautiful China”. Based on the practical investigation to the vegetation and species diversity in the coastal zones of south China, one hundred and sixty-six indigenous plants, including 88 species for restoring terrestrial ecosystem in mountainous area, 44 species for the low altitude protective forest in estuaries and coastal zones, and 34 species for intertidal region vegetation in the intertidal area, are proposed to be tool species for eco-restoration. The morphology,distribution, biological characters, seedling and cultivation techniques, as well as the disease and insect prevention and control methods, of each candidate species are provided so that they can be recognized and applied in different coastal conditions. The naturalized plants that widely used for ecological restoration in the coastal zones and their potential threaten to the security of local natural ecological system are also discussed for attracting governmental and public attention in terms of eco-safety in future. The application of the indigenous plants for ecological restoration can improve the eco-security of local environment and maintain the genetic diversity of the local biodiversity and will make great contributions to ecological civilization and green development.
In this book, the accepted names of families and genera of each plant followed the taxonomic treatment based on the molecular phylogenetic systems, viz. Smith et al (2006, 2008) and Zhang et al (2013) for the Lycophytes and Ferns, Christenlusz et al (2011) and Yang (2015) for gymnosperms, and the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2016) for angiosperms.
We are grateful to Professors Chen Zhongyi, Hu Qiming, Li Zexian, Chen Bangyu from South China Botanical Garden, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Professor Li Bingtao from South China Agriculture University, for their valuable comments and constructive suggestions. We also thank Professor Zhang Dianxiang, Professor Xu Yechun, Professor Ye Huagu, Professor Cao Honglin, Senior Engineer Chen Binghui, Dr. Guo Lixiu, Dr. Li Shijin, Dr. Luo Shixiao, Dr. Tu Tieyao, Dr. Yi Qifei, Dr. Xue Bin'e ,Dr. Liu Dongming, Mr. Wang Xuehai for freely sharing their digital images.
Feb 03, 2017