Ecological impact of land reclamation on Jiangsu coast (China)

Ecological impact of land reclamation on Jiangsu coast (China): A novel ecotope assessment for Tongzhou Bay

Muller, J.R.M. (TU Delft Coastal Engineering; Royal Boskalis Westminster)
Chen, Yong ping (Hohai University)
Aarninkhof, S.G.J. (TU Delft Hydraulic Engineering)
Chan, Ying chi (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen; NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research)
Piersma, Theunis (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen; NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research)
van Maren, D.S. (TU Delft Environmental Fluid Mechanics; Deltares)
Tao, Jian feng (Hohai University)
Wang, Zhengbing (TU Delft Coastal Engineering; Deltares)
Gong, Zheng (Hohai University)

Hydraulic Engineering

2020

China's continuous and rapid economic growth has led to the reclamation of large sections of the intertidal mud coast in combination with port construction, such as that of the proposed Tongzhou Bay port on the Jiangsu coast. These reclamations threaten the local ecosystem services. An ecotope distribution map was created and a hydrodynamic numerical model of Tongzhou Bay was set up to quantify the impacts of reclamation on the ecosystem. Based on the field data and model results, several abiotic features were classified into 11 ecotopes and visualized in an ecotope map of the Tongzhou Bay ecosystem. Validation with spatial distributions of two threatened shorebird species (bar-tailed godwit and great knot) showed confirmation with the mid-range and low-range littoral zones (inundated from 40% to 100% of a tidal cycle), indicating the importance of the areas with these conditions to these populations. Overlaying the ecotope map with recent and proposed land reclamation schemes revealed a loss of ecotopes, composed of the high-range (42%), mid-range (48%), and low-range (38%) littoral habitats, corresponding to a 44%–45% loss of the most important ecotopes for bar-tailed godwit and great knot (mid-range and low-range littoral zones). These results confirm the applicability of the novel ecotope assessment approach in practice.

Ecotope
Ecotope map
Intertidal mudflats
Jiangsu coast
Mapping
Migratory shorebirds
Reclamation
Tongzhou Bay

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:1019521f-a86f-40e1-8a22-8d87782f758a

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wse.2020.04.001

1674-2370

Water Science and Engineering, 13 (1), 57-64

Institutional Repository

journal article

© 2020 J.R.M. Muller, Yong ping Chen, S.G.J. Aarninkhof, Ying chi Chan, Theunis Piersma, D.S. van Maren, Jian feng Tao, Zhengbing Wang, Zheng Gong