An assessment of the effect of abandoned coastal wetland restoration in China- Achievements and lessons

DOI

10.2991/icaees-15.2015.102How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Transfer water, abandoned estuary wetland, ecological restoration, Yellow River Delta

Abstract

Estuary wetlands have been continuing to degrade under the pressures of natural factors and anthropogenic activities. The goal of restoration is to re-establish the hydrologic connection, and one of the most important methods of restoring abandoned wetlands is supplying freshwater to degraded wetlands. The decreasing Yellow River discharge and the altered flow regime during the last few decades are most likely a factor responsible for problems related to ecosystem deterioration, habitat loss, siltation of the river channel, groundwater depletion, and an increase in soil salinity. The Yellow River Conservancy Commission conducted water transfer engineering during the 10th flow-sediment regulation regime in the flood season of July, 2010. The water transferring project has resulted in significant positive ecological effects, including increased areas of freshwater wetlands, changes in vegetation types and bird diversity. The endangered species of red-crowned crane has increased by 11 and by 19 in 2010 and 2011, respectively, and the oriental white stork has increased by 18, suggesting the improved effects of Diaokou wetland ecological water transfer. It is necessary to establish a mechanism for the periodic monitoring of wetland resources. Coastal ecosystem degradation has led to the diagnosis, a restoration process, and an after-the-fact assessment, showing that adaptive management should be used in the practice of coastal ecosystem restoration. Therefore, future studies should incorporate water quality parameters to compare different restoration scenarios in achieving watershed-scale management goals.

Copyright

© 2015, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Zhenglei Xie
AU  - Zebing Du
AU  - Hezi Zhang
AU  - Lixiong Xiang
AU  - Yuli Wu
AU  - Yinghui Jiang
AU  - Xiaoxiang Zhao
AU  - Shimei Li
AU  - Xiaoyang Yang
AU  - Kai Shan
PY  - 2015/07
DA  - 2015/07
TI  - An assessment of the effect of abandoned coastal wetland restoration in China- Achievements and lessons
BT  - Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Advances in Energy and Environmental Science 2015
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 544
EP  - 559
SN  - 2352-5401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/icaees-15.2015.102
DO  - 10.2991/icaees-15.2015.102
ID  - Xie2015/07
ER  -