Effects of reclamation on heavy metal pollution in a coastal wetland reserve

Abstract

Owing to accelerating reclamation activities in the coastal wetland reserves, it is of great importance to analyze the effects of wetland reclamation on heavy metal pollution in these areas. Soil samples were collected from reclamation and natural habitats in Yancheng National Nature Reserve for Coastal Rare Birds in Jiangsu, China to investigate the effects of reclamation on the total amounts, availability, and vertical distribution of seven elemental heavy-metal pollutants. In general, the total amount and availability each element were relatively low in the two habitats and were classified as Bno pollution^. Reclamation was found to significantly increase the total amount of As, Cu, and Zn as well as the pollution degrees of As, Cr, and Zn. The availability of Cu, Pb, Cd, and Cr can also be significantly affected by reclamation. Furthermore, surface-accumulation patterns of the total amounts of these heavy metals could be observed in both habitats, and the availabilities of these elements were higher in deeper soils. Reclamation also had significant impacts on the vertical distribution of Cu, Pb, Cd, and Zn. It is essential to properly monitor nearby aquacultural activities, freshwater irrigation, and traffic pollution during plant harvest to alleviate the negative effects of these human activities.

Enrichment, Source Apportionment and Health Risk Assessment of Soil Potentially Harmful Elements Associated with Different Land Use in Coastal Tidelands Reclamation Area, Eastern China

“…Compared with the Chinese Soil Environmental Quality Standard (GB 15618-1995), the average concentrations of PHEs were all within the range. In general, the concentrations of PHEs in the tidal flat reclamation area were relatively low, which is similar to the conclusions of other researches in Jiangsu coastal areas, and might be related to the local geochemical background [45,46]. Lv et al [47] demonstrated that the background concentrations of Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn in marine sediments were significantly lower than that in river alluvial deposits, lagoonal facie sediments, and delta sediments.…”

Analysis of the spatiotemporal correlation between vegetation pattern and human activity intensity in Yancheng coastal wetland, China

“…Thus, the nature reserve has been subject to disturbance from industry (Wang et al 2010), agriculture (Li et al 2014), and aquaculture (Zuo et al 2004), both locally and in adjacent areas, and native wetland vegetation is being extensively converted for urbanization, farming, or aquaculture (Shi et al 2017). Conflicts between ecological protection and economic development have thus become increasingly prominent (Lu et al 2007;Xu et al 2016aXu et al , 2016b.…”

“…The Anthropocene has been proposed as a new geo-stratigraphic epoch in which humans have become a global factor affecting ecosystems (Biermann et al 2016). To further separate the respective contributions of human activity and natural factors to changes in landscape patterns based on previous studies (Walz and Stein 2014;Xu et al 2016aXu et al , 2016b, we constructed a qualitatively and quantitatively integrated HDI model:…”

“…where HDI is a nondimensional index; A it is the area of landscape type i as a percentage of the total area of n landscape types in the study area at time t; S i is the intensity of interference from human activity on landscape type i; and S cle is the construction land equivalent, used to compare effects on coastal wetlands by different human activities, and is reflected by the land use or cover types. Scores were assigned by experts according to the Delphi method (Walz and Stein 2014;Xu et al 2016aXu et al , 2016bChuai et al 2018), as shown in Table 2.…”

Eco-hydrology as a driver for tidal restoration: Observations from a Ramsar wetland in eastern Australia

“…On a global scale, the loss of wetlands has been estimated at 50% since 1900 [ 3 ]. In some locations, reclaimed wetlands have provided productive agriculture, economic or greenhouse gas mitigation benefits [ 4 – 6 ], but in other areas this has resulted in a negative net outcome to ecosystem services or a direct environmental collapse [ 7 – 9 ]. The ecosystem loss from landscape reclamation has also significantly impacted habitat for aquatic and terrestrial fauna, including internationally protected migratory wader birds [ 10 , 11 ].…”