Global warming and rising sea level have been observed to exert great impacts on China’s coast in the past century, includingincreased coastal erosion, degraded coastal ecosystems, exacerbated saltwater intrusion, and enhanced storm surges. The impacts ofclimate change and the adjustments of coastal systems are significantly site specific, resulting from local differences in climate change,coastal physiographic and ecological conditions, and resilience of coastal systems. Anthropogenic activities also exert increasing influenceson coastal systems. Societal vulnerabilities to climate change are greatly influenced by their adaptive capacities and selective adjustment,which are greatly determined by local socioeconomic conditions, so they are also highly localized. Coastal systems do not behavelinearly to climate change. The projected increasing global warming and accelerating sea level rise will undoubtedly impose morethreats to coastal systems. However, it is still difficult to determine the coastal socio-ecological thresholds to climate change without fullunderstandings of coastal physical and biological processes, and adaptation responses of coastal ecosystems and human societies.

崇明岛东滩潮沟系在盐沼带内特别发育，其形成与潮滩围垦工程和盐沼带的宽度密切相关。泥滩上潮沟的发育和演化与盐沼带潮盆大小、潮时（大小潮）和降雨量等相关，潮沟体系规模小，涨潮流不受其控制，退潮时潮沟成为主要泄水通道，未沉降的细悬浮颗粒和浮泥层在重力作用下向潮沟汇集，使潮沟内沉积物比滩面细。崇明岛东滩潮沟体系形成、演化及沉积物分布，完全不同于目前研究非常详细的欧美河口湾/港湾型潮道一潮沟体系，后者潮道以涨潮流占优势，沉积物明显比滩面粗。崇明岛东滩潮沟体系是发育在快速淤长的三角洲类型海岸上，通过与其他类型的对比研究，可以更全面地认识潮道一潮沟体系对泥滩和盐沼发育、演化所起的作用。