Abstract
The coastal ecosystem health assessment is a field of increasing importance. In this paper, a preliminary assessment of ecosystem health in Zhejiang coastal water zone was made, mainly based on remote sensing data and GIS technique. Its spatial and quantitative evaluation was facilitated by the progress of remote sensing and GIS technique development. Firstly, human activities, hydrology and ecosystem problems in the study area were discussed and analyzed. Secondly, from 4 aspects of human stress, physical, chemical and biological responses to anthropogenic activities and natural stress, several indicators such as water transparency (Secchi Disk Depth, SDD), suspended substance concentration, dissolved inorganic nitrogen, active phosphate, chlorophyll, harmful algae bloom, as well as distribution of sewage, sea lanes and port were employed. Thirdly, the Analytic Hierarchical Process was used for indicator weight calculation, and the ecosystem health criteria were established according to the integrative analysis of national water quality criteria, similar coastal ecosystem health research in other places or data inherent properties. The results indicated that from 2005 to 2007 the coastal water ecosystem health value in Zhejiang Province was unhealthy and needs ecological restoration by human intervention.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.References
Boesch D F. 2000. Measuring the Health of the Chesapeake Bay: Toward Integration and Prediction. Environmental Research Section A, 82: 134–142
Bricker S B, Ferriera J G, Simas T. 2003. An integrated methodology for assessment of estuarine trophic status. Ecological Modelling, 169: 39–40
Costanza R. 1992. Toward an operational definition of health. Inland Press, Washington D C
Costanza R, d’Arge R, Groot, et al. 1997. The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature, 387: 253–260
Dennison W C, Orth R J, Moore K A, et al. 1993. Assessing water quality with submersed aquatic vegetation. Bioscience, 43: 86–94
Jørgensen S E. 1995a. The application of ecological indicators to assess the ecological condition of a lake. Lakes & Reservoirs: Research and Management, 1: 177–182
Jørgensen S E. 1995b. Exergy and ecological buffer capacities as measures of ecosystem health. Ecological Health, 1: 150–160
Kay J J, Schneider E D. 1991. Thermodynamics and measurements of ecosystem integrity. In: Ecological Indicators McKenzie D (Ed.), 159–182. Elsevier, Amsterdam
Leopold A. 1941. Wilderness as a land laboratory. Living Wilderness 6, 3
Niemi G, Wardrop D, Brooks R, et al. 2004. Rationale for a New Generation of Indicators for Coastal Waters. Environmental Health Perspectives, 112: 979–986
Rapport D J. 1989. What constitutes ecosystem health? Perspective in Biology and Medicine, 33: 120–132
Rapport D J, Regier H A, Hutchinson T C. 1985. Ecosystem behaviour under stress. American Naturalist, 125: 617–640
Schaeffer D J, Henricks E E, Kerster H W. 1988. Ecosystem health: I. Measuring ecosystem health. Environmental Management, 12: 445–455
Sun L. 2008. Coastal Ecosystem Health Assessment and prediction research of Jiaozhou Bay (in Chinese). Beijing: Ocean University of China
State Oceanic Administration. 2005. China marine environmental quality bulletin (in Chinese).
State Oceanic Administration. 2006. China marine environmental quality bulletin (in Chinese).
State Oceanic Administration. 2007. China marine environmental quality bulletin (in Chinese).
Trevor P, Shubha S. 2008. Ecological Indicators for the Pelagic Zone of the Ocean. Remote Sensing of Environment, 112: 3426–3436
Ulanowicz R E. 1992. Ecosystem health and trophic flow networks. Washington DC: Inland Press
Vitousek P M, Mooney H A, Lubchenco J, et al., 1997. Human Domination of Earth’s Ecosystems. Science, 277: 494–499
Wang L F, Xu S B. 1989. Introduction of Analytic Hierarchy Process (in Chinese). Beijing: China Renmin University Press
Wang L Q, Zhang Y X. 2006. Suggestions on the SD and CHl-a control standards in major lakes of Yunnan Province. Journal of Lake Sciences (in Chinese), 18: 86–90
Wazniak C E, Hall M R. 2005. Maryland’s Coastal Bays Ecosystem Health Assessment 2004, Annapolis, MD
Xu F L, Jørgensen S E, Tao S. 1999. Ecological indicators for assessing freshwater ecosystem health. Ecological Modelling, 116: 77–106
Xu F L, Lam K C, Zhao Z Y, et al. 2004. Marine coastal ecosystem health assessment: a case study of the Tolo Harbour, Hong Kong, China. Ecological Modelling, 173: 355–370
Yu X Z, Zhong D Y, Li J X, et al. 2004. Review of studies on sediment in water environment. Journal of Sediment Research (in Chinese), 6: 75–81
Ye S F, Liu X, Ding D W. 2007. Ecosystem health assessment of the Changjiang River Estuary: indicator system and its primarily assessment. Acta Oceanologica Sinica (in Chinese), 29: 129–136
Zhejiang Bureau of Statistics. 2008. Almanac of Zhejiang (in Chinese).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Foundation item: The National Natural Science Foundation of China under contract No. 41001271.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chen, Z., Pan, D. & Bai, Y. Study of coastal water zone ecosystem health in Zhejiang Province based on remote sensing data and GIS. Acta Oceanol. Sin. 29, 27–34 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-010-0060-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13131-010-0060-9