A solution for restoration of critical wetlands and waterbird habitats in coastal deltaic systems.

Autor: Yuan L; State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, Institute of Eco-Chongming, East China Normal University, 200062, Shanghai, China; Yangtze Delta Estuarine Wetland Ecosystem Observation and Research Station, 202162, Shanghai, China., Liu D; State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, Institute of Eco-Chongming, East China Normal University, 200062, Shanghai, China. Electronic address: dyliu@sklec.ecnu.edu.cn., Tian B; State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, Institute of Eco-Chongming, East China Normal University, 200062, Shanghai, China., Yuan X; Shanghai Landscaping and City Appearance Administrative Bureau, 200040, Shanghai, China., Bo S; Shanghai Landscaping and City Appearance Administrative Bureau, 200040, Shanghai, China., Ma Q; Shanghai Chongming Dongtan National Nature Reserve Administration Division, 202183, Shanghai, China., Wu W; Shanghai Chongming Dongtan National Nature Reserve Administration Division, 202183, Shanghai, China., Zhao Z; State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, Institute of Eco-Chongming, East China Normal University, 200062, Shanghai, China., Zhang L; State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, Institute of Eco-Chongming, East China Normal University, 200062, Shanghai, China., Keesing JK; CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere Research and University of Western Australia Oceans Institute, Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre, Crawley, 6009, Australia. Electronic address: john.keesing@csiro.au.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Journal of environmental management [J Environ Manage] 2022 Jan 15; Vol. 302 (Pt A), pp. 113996. Date of Electronic Publication: 2021 Oct 28.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.113996
Abstrakt: Loss of coastal wetland habitats has been directly linked to a decline in waterbird populations including migratory species, leading to calls to reverse this trend in part by restoring these habitats. However, distinct "sediment scarcity" has hindered coastal habitat restoration. Here, taking the Yangtze River Delta, China as an example, we put forward a feasible solution to solve the sediment shortage in habitat restoration so necessary to restore migratory waterbird numbers. Four biological indices including total wetland area, wetland vegetation area and waterbird species richness and abundance, were used to compare and assess the restorative efforts. Three solutions were adopted for the rehabilitation sites, including promoting sediment deposition and settlement through engineering intervention in Chongming Dongtan (CD) and Eastern Nanhui (EN), and using dredged sediments to nourish and create new habitats in Hengsha Eastern Shoal (HES). The mean wetland area increased 19.66 km 2 /yr in EN, 8.78 km 2 /yr in HES and 3.83 km 2 /yr in CD after rehabilitation. Along with the increase of wetlands and habitats, the abundance of waterbirds increased 1.3 times, 121 times and 1.5 times in EN, HES and CD, respectively. In contrast, in the site of Fengxian and Jinshan (FJ) where no any rehabilitation measure was taken after reclamation, the habitats were lost almost completely and the waterbird abundance dropped drastically. The comparison and assessment results demonstrate that proper coastal silting structures and ecological utilization of nearby dredged sediments are the feasible and effective solutions to retain sediments, restore coastal habitats and increase waterbird diversity and abundance.
(Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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