| Wetland ecosystems provide considerable amount of the Earth’s global biodiversity andsubstantial ecosystem services, creating a strong imperative for their protection and restoration.Although this unique ecosystem has been exposed to higher pressures and threats than adjacentterrestrial ecosystems, wetland ecosystem has received less attention than terrestrial in itsconservation planning and assessment, or mostly protected within framework of terrestrialconservation planning, ignoring fundamental difference between terrestrial and wetlandecosystem, therefore specific consideration of the conservation requirements of wetlandecosystem is needed. In this research, we applied the theory and methodology of SystematicConservation Planning (SCP) and GIS to evaluate the wetlands conservation efficiency innational scale; national-scale wetland conservation strategy will be explored by innovativelyapplying approaches well developed. The main contents and conclusions are as follows:(1) Mapping the wetlands conservation efficiency distribution. With combination of thevariation of wetlands area and landscape pattern, the method of wetlands conservation efficiencyon mutipale sacle (national scale, national reserves scale and basin scale) has been asscessed.The result shows: The ratio of the most efficient national reserves was the least, which aremainly located in the south of Northwest Rivers Basin and the Upper Reaches of Yangtze River;the percentage of better efficient national reerves is5.68%, mainly located in the middlewest ofSonghuajiang Basin and the north of Nothwest Rivers Basin. The ratio of the national wetlandsreserves which is in the middle low of conservation efficiency is the most, which are mainly inYangtze River Basin and Sanjiangyuan region; the amount of lowest efficient national reserves is7.42%, located in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, Northwest Rivers Basin and coastalarea. In addition, on national and basin scale, we used paired t test to analyze the change rates ofwetland areas in the reserves and their drainage unit. The results shows, the holistic conservation of existing conservation frame is relatively poor, apparently.(2) With combination of the regional human disturbance intensity, we evaluate the evolutiontrend and potential ecological risk of wetland habitats. The result shows: the reserves under thelower ecological risk are mainly located in Songhuajiang Basin, Northwest rivers Basin,Northeast rivers Basin, the Upper Reaches of Yangtze River and the Upper Reasches of LiaoheRiver. In the contrary, the reserves under the higher risk are mainly in Yellow River Basin,Huaihe River, the Middle and the Lower Reaches of Yangtze River, the Lower Reaches ofLiaohe River Basin and Zhujiang Basin. Generally, the lower efficient national reserves arealways under stronger human disturbance intensity. Therefore, the human disturbance is one ofthe most important factors which have siginificant influence for the conservation efficiency ofwetlands.(3) The climatic and topographic factors will be combined with wetland types to develop90wetland ecotopes, which will be employed as large-scale conservation targets in conservationplanning due to their unique eco-hydrological process and biodiversity assemblages.(4) The wetland conservation strategy incorporated riverine and nonriverine wetlands intoconservation targets, and integrated longitudinal (upstream-downstream), lateral(riverine-floodplain) connectivity into conservation assessment. As to wetlands system, weestablished90wetlands types as conservation features. Aslo, we got198important waterbirds asconservation features. A national-scale wetland conservation strategy will be explored byinnovatively applying approaches well developed for terrestrial ecosystems in the past decade,e.g. systematic conservation planning and its tool-Marxan, which can identify biodiversitypriorities and developing conservation strategies in an efficient and defensible manner withcomplementarity-based planning framework.(5) Base on the conservation efficacy distribution and the regional human disturbance intensity,the study presented21national wetlands reserves, which are in need of greater concern. They aremainly located in Yangtze River Basin, Yellow River Basin and Huai River Basin. On someextend, this result provides a basis of wetlands management in China. Consequently, it mayimprove the wetlands conservation efficacy. With the combination of integrated conservationstrategy and the classification of the wetlands degeneration, we identify878planning units,which should be superior conserved. These superior conservation regions are mainly located inSonghuajiang River Basin, Yangtze River Basin, Northwest Rivers Basin, Yellow River Basinand Liao River Basin. The result highlights the need for specific refinements to wetlandconservation framework and provides a large-scale wetland conservation framework at nationalscale, and enables central government and managers of wetland resources to set ecologicallymeaningful spatial conservation priorities. |
PDF Full Text Request