Coastal wetland health early diagnosis: toward a visual ecology framework

Coastal wetlands are under rising pressure from natural and anthropogenic stressors and are experiencing accelerating degradation under global change. Yet early-warning monitoring still tends to be fragmented by medium, with vegetation, soil, or sediment, and water often assessed through separate indicators, instruments, and workflows. This Perspective argues that color can serve as a practical integrative signal for coastal wetland health when it is treated not as landscape appearance alone, but as interpretable ecological information. First, it frames coastal wetland color as a linked observation domain across all elements. Second, it proposes a communicable and trainable interpretation layer based on the Natural Color System for standardizing field observation and digital recording. Third, it places color observation inside a management sequence of screening, verification, response, and tracking. Unlike previous work that treats color within single media, this perspective positions color as a cross-medium management trigger rather than a medium-specific descriptor. Framed this way, color-axis monitoring offers a low-barrier front end for faster triage, broader participation, and more scenario-based coastal wetland stewardship.