Assessment of wetland sustainability capacity of artificial mangrove wetland on landscape scale: A case of Luoyangjiang River Estuary, China

Abstract

Mangrove wetland ecosystem plays a vital ecological service function in carbon neutralization and coastal protection. In recent decades, a series of artificial mangrove wetlands have been produced. However, the sustainability of these kind of mangrove wetlands has not been fully studied, especially on the landscape scale. This study explored a set of robust and transplantable technical routines for assessing the sustainability of mangrove forest landscape. With the support of the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud platform, the temporal and spatial evolution pattern of artificial mangroves in the Luoyangjiang River estuary was obtained from 1990 to 2023. The landscape index is calculated by Fragstats and screened by the Spearman rank correlation coefficient, and 9 key indicators are obtained. The Landscape Sustainability Development Index (LSDI) was calculated using landscape metrics and principal component analysis (PCA) to assess the sustainability of mangrove ecosystems. The LSDI derived from PCA scores, provides insights into the effectiveness of mangrove conservation and restoration efforts. From 1990 to 2023, the sustainability capacity of the Luoyangjiang wetland, as indicated by LSDI, has gradually increased. This trend suggests a positive trajectory towards enhanced ecological stability and resilience in the region. These findings contribute to the strategic objectives of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in China, offering both theoretical insights and practical recommendations for ecological engineering.