Evolution of habitat quality and analysis of influencing factors in the Yellow River Delta Wetland from 1986 to 2020

Abstract

The assessment of habitat quality plays an important role in the effective conservation of wetland biodiversity. The Yellow River Delta Wetland is located in the intertwining zone of sea, terrestrial, and river ecosystems, increasing human activities and climate change posed a great threat to wetland biodiversity. This study first analyzed the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of habitat quality in the Yellow River Delta Wetland under the evolution of the shoreline after runoff-sediment variability (1986–2020) using the InVEST-habitat quality model and then identified the dominant influence factors on habitat quality based on Geographical Detector. Finally, elasticity index was introduced to analyze the impacts of different reclamation activities on habitat quality. Results showed that the habitat quality decreased from 0.4798 in 1986 to 0.4078 in 2020, with high values of habitat quality concentrated in mudflat wetlands and low values of habitat quality concentrated in construction land and salt pans. The results of the Geographical Detector analysis showed that the influence of human activities, especially reclamation activities, had stronger effects on habitat quality than climatic factors. The elasticity index analysis showed that the elasticity of all three types of reclamation activities, namely, culture ponds, construction land, and salt pans, were negative from 1986 to 2005, 2005 to 2020, and 1986 to 2020. The reclamation activities had a negative impact on habitat quality. The habitat quality of the Yellow River Delta Wetland was most sensitive to the change in reclamation intensity of construction land from 1986 to 2020, and the sensitivity of the change of habitat quality to the change of reclamation intensity of culture ponds and salt pans was strengthening. This study explicitly revealed the effect of climate change and human activities on the habitat quality of the Yellow River Delta Wetland and proposed to analyze the response intensity of habitat quality to different reclamation activities by using the elasticity index, thus providing a scientific basis for mitigating the tradeoff between biodiversity conservation and rapid social development in the Yellow River Delta Wetland in the future.

Monitoring Land Use Changes in the Yellow River Delta Using Multi-Temporal Remote Sensing Data and Machine Learning from 2000 to 2020

“…Zhang et al found that the habitat quality in 2020 increased compared to that in 2011, which is mainly due to the background of the major strategy of ecological protection and high-quality development of the Yellow River basin and the continuous ecological replenishment work since 2008. More policies and management measures have been implemented to strengthen the protection of the Yellow River Delta Wetland [44]. This aligns with the findings of a previous study, indicating an increase in…”

Spatio-Temporal Differentiation and Driving Factors of Land Use and Habitat Quality in Lu’an City, China

“…The digital elevation model (DEM), slope (SLO), and terrain roughness index (TRI) [42] are important geographical parameters to measure the terrain and landform of the study area. The human footprint index (FHI) [62] and gross domestic product (GDP) [38] are important human factors used to reflect the intensity of human activities. FHI reflects 8 variables of different aspects of human pressure, such as the built environment, population density, night light, cropland, pasture, road, railway, and navigable waterway.…”

Physical and chemical water quality characteristics in six wetlands of Lake Tana, Ethiopia

“…Physicochemical variables measured in this study were temperature, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, pH, secchi disk depth a.m., and p.m., total dissolved substance, salinity, nitrite (NO 2 ), nitrate (NO 3 ), soluble reactive phosphorous, total ammonia (NH 4 + NH 3 ), total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), and chlorophyll a (Chl-a). These variables were monitored because they de ne the status and quality of the water and phosphorous can be directly harmful to sh in concentrations beyond the normal ranges (Zhang et al, 2022;Dar et al, 2021;Lopes, 2021;Holmes & Taylor, 2015). Temperature affects the speed of chemical reactions, the rate of photosynthesis, the metabolic rate of aquatic organisms, as well as how pollutants, parasites, and other pathogens interact with aquatic residents.…”