Tracking the rapid loss of tidal wetlands in the Yellow Sea
Murray, Nicholas, Clemens, Robert S, Phinn, Stuart R, Possingham, Hugh P, and Fuller, Richard A (2014) Tracking the rapid loss of tidal wetlands in the Yellow Sea. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 12. pp. 267-272.
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Abstract
In the Yellow Sea region of East Asia, tidal wetlands are the frontline ecosystem protecting a coastal population of more than 60 million people from storms and sea-level rise. However, unprecedented coastal development has led to growing concern about the status of these ecosystems. We developed a remote-sensing method to assess change over ~4000 km of the Yellow Sea coastline and discovered extensive losses of the region’s principal coastal ecosystem – tidal flats – associated with urban, industrial, and agricultural land reclamations. Our analysis revealed that 28% of tidal flats existing in the 1980s had disappeared by the late 2000s (1.2% annually). Moreover, reference to historical maps suggests that up to 65% of tidal flats were lost over the past five decades. With the region forecast to be a global hotspot of urban expansion, development of the Yellow Sea coastline should pursue a course that minimizes the loss of remaining coastal ecosystems.
Item ID: | 60169 |
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Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
ISSN: | 1540-9309 |
Copyright Information: | © The Ecological Society of America |
Funders: | Australian Research Council (ARC), Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management, Commonwealth Department of Environment and Heritage, Queensland Wader Study Group, Port of Brisbane Corporation |
Projects and Grants: | ARC Linkage grant LP100200418 |
Date Deposited: | 05 Sep 2019 04:12 |
FoR Codes: | 05 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 0502 Environmental Science and Management > 050202 Conservation and Biodiversity @ 100% |
SEO Codes: | 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9605 Ecosystem Assessment and Management > 960501 Ecosystem Assessment and Management at Regional or Larger Scales @ 100% |
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