Assessment of wetland ecological restoration effect based on fuzzy analytic hierarchy process: a case study of Tianjin Qilihai Wetland.

Journal: Environmental monitoring and assessment
PMID:

Abstract

Scientific evaluation of the effectiveness of ecological restoration could provide support for sustainable management and protection of wetlands. However, due to the multiple and difficult to quantify factors affecting wetlands, commonly used spatiotemporal evaluation methods were difficult to scientifically reflect the actual effectiveness of ecological restoration. This paper took Tianjin Qilihai Wetland, a representative wetland in northern China, as the research object. Two representative time points, 2017 (before the start of the 2-year restoration project) and 2023 (4 years after the completion of the restoration project), were selected to construct a three-level monitoring and evaluation index system containing eight specific indicators from three aspects-water environment, biological community, and landscape topography. And then, a model based on fuzzy analytic hierarchy process was developed to systematically evaluate the ecological restoration effect. The evaluation results showed that after implementing a series of measures, the comprehensive evaluation index of wetland ecological environment increased by 37.68%. In addition, it was also found that compared to the water environment, the restoration of the ecosystem had a certain lag. It was recommended to further strengthen the follow-up and continuous monitoring and evaluation, as well as the monitoring and control of the stability of external water source quality. The method and model adopted in this paper further improved the theoretical and methodological system for evaluating the effectiveness of wetland ecological restoration.

Authors

  • Ran Zhou
    Medical Ultrasound Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, China.
  • Yi Zhang
    Department of Thyroid Surgery, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, Jilin University, Changchun, China.
  • Shitao Peng
    Tianjin Research Institute for Water Transport Engineering, Ministry of Transport, Tianjin, 300456, China. Electronic address: pengshitao@tiwte.ac.cn.
  • Yisheng Wang
    Department of Biomedical Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China.
  • Mingxin Dai
    Tianjin Research Institute for Water Transport Engineering, Ministry of Transport (TIWTE), Tianjin, 300456, China.
  • Ningning Hong
    Tianjin Research Institute for Water Transport Engineering, Ministry of Transport (TIWTE), Tianjin, 300456, China.
  • Hui Tong
    Tianjin Research Institute for Water Transport Engineering, Ministry of Transport (TIWTE), Tianjin, 300456, China.
  • Baocui Liang
    Tianjin Research Institute for Water Transport Engineering, Ministry of Transport (TIWTE), Tianjin, 300456, China.
  • Shaopeng Lu
    Tianjin Research Institute for Water Transport Engineering, Ministry of Transport (TIWTE), Tianjin, 300456, China.
  • Wu Hong
    Division of Mood Disorders, Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.