Evaluating the Effectiveness of Conservation on Mangroves: A Remote Sensing-Based Comparison for Two Adjacent Protected Areas in Shenzhen and Hong Kong, China

Remote Sens. 2016, 8(8), 627; doi:10.3390/rs8080627

Author

Mingming Jia ^1,†

, Mingyue Liu ^1,2,†

, Zongming Wang ^1,* , Dehua Mao ¹

, Chunying Ren ^1,*  and Haishan Cui ³

¹

Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130102, China

²

University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 19, Yuquan Road, Beijing 100049, China

³

School of Geographical Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China

^†

These authors contributed equally to this work.

^*

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed. 

Academic Editors: Javier Bustamante, Xiaofeng Li and Prasad S. Thenkabail

Received: 29 February 2016 / Revised: 27 June 2016 / Accepted: 22 July 2016 / Published: 29 July 2016

(This article belongs to the Special Issue What can Remote Sensing Do for the Conservation of Wetlands?)

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Abstract 

Mangroves are ecologically important ecosystems and globally protected. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of mangrove conservation efforts in two adjacent protected areas in China that were under the management policies of the Ramsar Convention (Mai Po Marshes Nature Reserve (MPMNR), Hong Kong) and China’s National Nature Reserve System (Futian Mangrove National Nature Reserve (FMNNR), Shenzhen). To achieve this goal, eleven Landsat images were chosen and classified, areal extent and landscape metrics were then calculated. The results showed that: from 1973–2015, the areal extent of mangroves in both reserves increased, but the net change for the MPMNR (281.43 hm²) was much higher than those of the FMNNR (101.97 hm²). In general, the area-weighted centroid of the mangroves in FMNNR moved seaward by approximately 120 m, whereas in the MPMNR, the centroid moved seaward even farther (410 m). Although both reserves saw increased integrality and connectivity of the mangrove patches, the patches in the MPMNR always had higher integrality than those in the FMNNR. We concluded that the mangroves in the MPMNR were more effectively protected than those in the FMNNR. This study may provide assistance to the formulation of generally accepted criteria for remote sensing-based evaluation of conservation effectiveness, and may facilitate the development of appropriate mangrove forest conservation and management strategies in other counties. View Full-Text

Keywords: remote sensing;  mangroves;  Ramsar Convention;  National Nature Reserve;  Landsat;  object-based method; landscape metrics;  area-weighted centroids

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