The wetland ecosystem along a river in a coastal region has great significance in purifying water bodies, regulating climate, and providing habitat for animals and plants. Studying the effects of human disturbances on the landscape patterns of wetlands is of great significance to the protection and management of an ecosystem. This study used Guannan County and Guanyun County, two counties in China that are located on both banks of the Xinyi River as the study area. The spatiotemporal characteristics of the landscape pattern evolution of wetlands and their relationship with human interference from 2009 to 2020 were analyzed by the landscape dynamic rate, landscape conversion matrix, landscape indices, human disturbance index, and the quadratic regression equation. The results showed that: (1) Except for the increase in the area of beach and paddy fields, the area of other landscape types decreased; (2) the changes in wetlands were heterogeneous and showed different trends in different regions; (3) the boundary shape’s complexity and the landscape pattern’s fragmentation showed a decreasing–increasing trend and the connectivity and the diversity of the landscape decreased; and (4) the human disturbance index increased from 2009 to 2014 and then decreased from 2014 to 2020, declining outward from the places where towns and construction land aggregated. Moreover, there was an inverted U-type relationship with the landscape pattern indices. The findings provide direct, specific, and explicit information and theoretical guidance for the protection of wetlands along the river in the coastal region as well as for the restoration of wetland ecosystem function and the improvement of wetland biodiversity in relevant regions.

The agricultural soil alongside highways has experienced multiple potential ecological risks from human activities. In this study, 100 soil samples near the highways were collected in Lishui District, Nanjing City. Using the single-factor pollution index, the Nemerow comprehensive pollution index, and the potential ecological risk index, the study investigated the heavy metal contents and distribution in roadside agricultural soil. PCA and a multiple regression model were applied to quantitatively analyze the spatial relationships between sampling soil heavy metal accumulation and the surrounding man-made landscape. The mean contents of Cu and Pb exceeded the background, while Cd, Cr, and Zn were lower than that. The potential ecological risk index exhibited a very low ecological hazard and only Cr in soils rarely showed moderate risk. Furthermore, quantitative analysis for the sources of contamination revealed that agricultural practices were the dominant contributors to the heavy metals, including Cd, Cu, and Zn, while road and heavy industrial practices contributed to Cr and Pb. The study provides sources of heavy metal pollution from human activities in roadside agricultural land and serves as a reference for ecological restoration.

The hilly areas of China have experienced soil erosion and are also typical land consolidation (LC) regions. Using the RUSLE model and the multiple regression model, this study evaluated the soil erosion of agricultural land and assessed the effects of LC on soil erosion in Lishui District, a typical district in the Ning-Zhen-Yang hilly area. The soil erosion of agricultural land ranged from 0 to 385.77 t·ha⁻¹·yr⁻¹ with spatial heterogeneity due to the topography, land cover, and vegetation cover. Overall, carrying out LC reduced soil erosion due to the construction of protection forests, farmland shelterbelts, and different kinds of land engineering. Furthermore, the different types of LC had different impacts on soil erosion, where farmland consolidation resulted in more serious soil erosion than land development. Nevertheless, the potential risks brought by LC to soil erosion reduction could not be overlooked, and more attention should be paid to ecological environment protection during the process of LC. This study presents findings regarding the positive impacts and potential risks of LC for soil erosion reduction in agricultural land in hilly areas.