Modeling the scenarios of wetland restoration in Hengshui Lake National Nature Reserve

Hengshui Lake National Nature Reserve is one of most ecologically valuable freshwater wetlands in northern plain of China, providing crucial staging and wintering habitats for a large variety of endangered waterbirds. However, this unique wetland has been suffered from serious habitat fragmentation and ecological function degradation due to increased socioeconomic activities within and surrounding the nature reserve. Aiming at enhancing its ecological function while balancing the needs between the conservation priorities and indispensable socioeconomic activities, three landuse scenarios of wetland restoration were proposed based on the different magnitude of wetland restoration. In this study, a physiotopes was used as planning unit which was defined as the combinations of landuse/landcover types and topographic factors (i.e. water level, slope) with RS & GIS techniques. The pros and cons of the scenarios were evaluated based on its ecological feasibility and practical applicability. The results provided the basis for adopting the measures of wetland restoration and consequent landuse adjustment, finally potential impacts and the practical suggestions for the wetland restoration and habitat modification in Hengshuilake NNR were thus forwarded and discussed. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.