Yellow River Delta National Nature Research Articles

Change Detection of the Eastern Reserve Wetlands after the Yellow River Resumed its Normal Runoff

In this paper, wetlands landscape pattern dynamic changes were investigated in the eastern Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve by the combination use of satellite remote sensing and geographic information systems. The main objective of this study was to determine the variation characteristics and reasons of the reserve wetlands since the Yellow River resumed its normal runoff from 2001 to 2008. Results showed that the reserve wetlands were mainly composed of the natural wetlands and the constructed wetlands, while the proportion of the later was very less. The amount of the wetlands increased 91.510 km2 in total from 2001 to 2008, although there was a little decrease about 7.569 km2 from 2001 to 2004. Among these types of wetlands the bare muddy tidal flat, the estuarine waters and the palustrine wetlands had a relatively significant change. Through transformation analysis between the above three types and the others, we can conclude that there are two major factors affecting the reserve wetlands landscapes: Firstly, the changing condition of Yellow River water and sediment, and secondly, the increasing human activities.