Reclamation and Ecological Service Value Evaluation of Coastal Wetlands Using Multispectral Satellite Imagery

Wetlands (Wilmington). 2022;42(3):20. doi: 10.1007/s13157-022-01537-7. Epub 2022 Feb 19.

Abstract

There are special locational value and natural resources in coastal wetlands. Studying their changes and evaluating their ecosystem service value (ESV) is beneficial for protecting the ecology of coastal wetlands and for maintaining sustainable human development. In this paper, the coastal wetland of Jiaozhou Bay is selected as the research area, an object-oriented method is used to extract shoreline and wetland information, and the coastal wetland reclamation process in Jiaozhou Bay is evaluated. The value equivalent method and market value method are used to evaluate the service value of wetland ecosystems from the perspective of ecological economics. The results show that the reclamation area of Jiaozhou Bay reached 75.2 km2 in 40 years, with nearly 23% of the bay area eroding. Reclamation engineering, estuary engineering, policy implementation and urbanization are the main factors affecting the changes in the Jiaozhou Bay wetland, and the main direction of wetland succession is natural wetlands→artificial wetlands→nonwetlands. Wetland reclamation in Jiaozhou Bay has led to the continuous extension of the coastline to the sea, especially during the 2005-2020 period, and the wetland area has declined in area by 116 km2. The changes in the wetland in the past 40 years have affected the changes in the ESV of Jiaozhou Bay, and there have been different synergistic/trade-off relationships in different periods. This research provides data to support the comprehensive ecological management of coastal areas, which is conducive to maximizing the utilization value of wetlands and promoting wetland protection.

Keywords: Artificial wetland; Coastline; Ecological service value; Jiaozhou Bay; Wetland reclamation.