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Impacts of human activities on the evolution of estuarine wetland in the Yangtze Delta from 2000 to 2010

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An Erratum to this article was published on 28 February 2015

Abstract

The wetland in the Yangtze Delta plays an important role in coastal protection against erosion, water purification, and habitat maintenance of migratory birds. The Yangtze Delta is one of the largest economic zones (e.g., Shanghai) in China. Human activities severely affect wetland evolution. Wetland map** was performed from multi-temporal remote sensing data of Landsat during the period 2000–2010 at intervals of about 5 years, and spatiotemporal changes in wetland characteristics as well as driving forces for such changes were analyzed. Results indicated the Yangtze River estuarine wetland area experienced a net increase of 63 % during the period of 2000–2010; from 2005 onwards, however, the rate of increase has decreased. Human activities, including upstream dam construction, estuarine engineering, land reclamation, and ecological engineering, played an important role in wetland evolution during this short period. Reduction of riverine sediment loads led to decreases in the increase rate of estuary wetland; 95 % of the estuarine shoreline is embanked by seawalls, which exerts negative effects because closure promotes substantial degradation of wetland areas. Urbanization and expansion of Shanghai facilitated regular land reclamation of wetland and led to 35 % wetland loss. Intentional artificial planting of aquatic plants and groyne construction accelerated sediment deposition and wetland formation to compensate for coastal wetland loss.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the project of the “Strategic Priority Research Program—Climate Change: Carbon Budget and Related Issues” of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA05050109); Inventory and Assessment of National Ecological Environment 10 years Changes(2000–2010)using Remote sensing; National Natural Science Foundation of China (41371361, 41101501).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P. O. Box 9718, Bei**g, 100101, China

    Lei Zhang, Bingfang Wu, Kai Yin, **aosong Li, Kun Kia & Liang Zhu

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  1. Lei Zhang
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  2. Bingfang Wu
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  3. Kai Yin
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  4. **aosong Li
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  5. Kun Kia
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Correspondence to Kai Yin.

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Zhang, L., Wu, B., Yin, K. et al. Impacts of human activities on the evolution of estuarine wetland in the Yangtze Delta from 2000 to 2010. Environ Earth Sci 73, 435–447 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3565-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3565-2

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