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Analyzing coastal wetland change in the Yancheng National Nature Reserve, China

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Abstract

Coastal zones provide habitat cores and corridors that maintain the diversity of entire landscapes, and they can form the cornerstone elements of regional conservation strategies. Natural environmental driving factors and excessive anthropogenic activities play important roles in coastal wetland change. Many studies have used remote sensing images to map and assess coastal wetland change on local or regional scales. This paper aims to provide insight into coastal wetland change in the Yancheng National Nature Reserve (YNNR) using remote sensing technology and landscape metrics analysis. The results reveal that grass flat and reed areas have significantly decreased, whereas agriculture fields, aquaculture ponds and built-up areas have continuously increased from 1988 to 2006. The spatial pattern of the coastal landscape has become fragmented and heterogeneous under great pressure from rapid economic development and population growth. The wetland changes have important impacts on natural habitat of the red-crowned cranes. The results of this study provide basic information that is required for developing measures toward a sustainable management and conservation of the YNNR.

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Abbreviations

YNNR:

The Yancheng National Nature Reserve

NBSC:

National Bureau of Statistics of China

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Acknowledgments

Thanks are extended to the anonymous reviewers and to the subject editor Prof. Ruth DeFries and editor-in-chief Prof. Wolfgang Cramer for their excellent reviews and constructive comments. This research is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC Grant No. 40730635 and 40971044), Hydrologic public benefit project of Water Resource Ministry of China (Grant No. 200701024), Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-08-0276) and Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) scholarship.

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  1. Department of Geographic Information Science, Nanjing University, No.22 Hankou Road, 210093, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China

    Chang-Qing Ke, Dong Zhang, Fu-Qiang Wang & Shu-Xing Chen

  2. Institute of Geography, Jena University, Grietgasse 6, 07743, Jena, Germany

    Christance Schmullius

  3. Communications, Sensing & Navigation Laboratory, Illinois University at Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60607-7018, USA

    Wolfgang-Martin Boerner

  4. Administration of Yancheng National Natural Reserve, 224002, Yanhceng, People’s Republic of China

    Hui Wang

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  1. Chang-Qing Ke
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Ke, CQ., Zhang, D., Wang, FQ. et al. Analyzing coastal wetland change in the Yancheng National Nature Reserve, China. Reg Environ Change 11, 161–173 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-010-0130-8

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