Ecological Sensitivity Evaluation and Spatial Pattern Analysis of Minjiang Estuary National Wetland Park Based on GIS

Abstract

Wetlands are one of the most complex ecosystem types on the planet, and ecological sensitivity assessment is an important foundation for the scientific planning of wetland park systems. The Minjiang River estuary, located in the coastal city of Fuzhou, has outstanding regional characteristics in terms of its ecosystem and biodiversity. The nearby waters are among the richest in marine species in the world and the richest in offshore marine species at that latitude in the northern hemisphere. It has at least four indicators meeting the criteria for internationally important wetlands. In this study, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) was used to determine the weights of factors, and the comprehensive ecological sensitivity of Minjiang Estuary National Wetland Park was evaluated using the weighted-overlap method by the Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS). An ecological sensitivity evaluation index system for wetland parks was constructed using Delphi, and then an ecological sensitivity assessment of Minjiang Estuary National Wetland Park was built. The sensitivities of different areas in the Minjiang Estuary National Wetland Park were divided five ecological sensitivity levels: extremely sensitive, highly sensitive, moderately sensitive, minimally sensitive, and insensitive. The results show that the riverbanks, beaches, canals, ponds, and surrounding areas were in the range of highly and moderately sensitive areas, while insensitive and minimally sensitive areas were distributed in the artificial landscape environments such as woodlands, farmland, and parks.