Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Ecosystem Ecology
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2024.1421794

Health assessment of mangrove ecosystem of natural protected areas in Guangdong Province, China

Provisionally accepted
Xitao Yang Xitao Yang 1,2*Rushu Wen Rushu Wen 3*Ming Qu Ming Qu 4*Chunxia Zhang Chunxia Zhang 4*Jianing Luo Jianing Luo 2*Weidong Zhu Weidong Zhu 4*Tong Jiang Tong Jiang 4*Xihui Liu Xihui Liu 4*Xingke Liu Xingke Liu 4*
  • 1 PKU-HKUST Shenzhen-Hongkong Institution, Shenzhen, China
  • 2 Green Infrastructure Institute, Peking University Clinical Research Institute (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, China
  • 3 Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Conservation and Precision Utilizationof Characteristic Agricultural Resources in Mountainous Areas, School of Life Science, Jiaying University, Meizhou, China
  • 4 Guangdong Forestry Survey and Planning Institute, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Multiple factors, including human disturbance and environmental change, have caused a significant global mangrove resource loss. Therefore, the Chinese government has restructured mangrove habitats and restored the ecosystem functionality through establishing naturally protected mangrove areas. Despite efforts spanning several years, over 90% of mangrove forests in China have been now integrated into the natural protected area system, with the health status and influencing factors of mangrove ecosystem remaining a pertinent subject for further exploration. Given the intricacies of mangrove ecosystems with complex nonlinear relationships among evaluation factors, it is imperative to adopt scientific methodologies to assess their health status. To illustrate this, we conducted a mangrove ecosystem health assessment of natural protected areas of Guangdong Province, China. By employing a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method and establishing an index system for mangrove ecosystem health assessment, the results revealed the following findings. (1) Various factors exert differing degrees of influence on mangrove ecosystem health. Notably, the mangrove habitat pattern (weight 47.95 %), bird diversity (weight 20.97 %), mangrove community (weight 14.31 %), water environment (weight 11.76 %), and soil sedimentary environment (weight 5.01 %) were identified. (2) Overall, the mangrove ecosystem within protected areas of Guangdong exhibited unhealthy signs. There were 4 healthy protected areas (20.00%), 4 areas classified as sub-healthy

    Keywords: Natural protected areas, mangrove, ecosystem, Health assessment, Fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method

    Received: 23 Apr 2024; Accepted: 31 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Yang, Wen, Qu, Zhang, Luo, Zhu, Jiang, Liu and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Xitao Yang, PKU-HKUST Shenzhen-Hongkong Institution, Shenzhen, China
    Rushu Wen, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Conservation and Precision Utilizationof Characteristic Agricultural Resources in Mountainous Areas, School of Life Science, Jiaying University, Meizhou, China
    Ming Qu, Guangdong Forestry Survey and Planning Institute, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
    Chunxia Zhang, Guangdong Forestry Survey and Planning Institute, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
    Jianing Luo, Green Infrastructure Institute, Peking University Clinical Research Institute (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, China
    Weidong Zhu, Guangdong Forestry Survey and Planning Institute, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
    Tong Jiang, Guangdong Forestry Survey and Planning Institute, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
    Xihui Liu, Guangdong Forestry Survey and Planning Institute, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
    Xingke Liu, Guangdong Forestry Survey and Planning Institute, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.