Abstract:

 The coastal wetlands system of Yellow River Delta was chosen as the research object, both conceptual model and indicator system for the health assessment of coastal wetlands were established based on the analysis of the four functions of the healthy coastal wetlands and the consideration of the coastal wetlands eco-geological environment system characteristics and health responding factors. Based on the remote sensing data and monitoring data, GIS, RS and some other advanced technologies were adopted to analyze the temporal and spatial regularities of distribution of the coastal wetlands of Yellow River Delta. The results show that: healthy, sub-healthy and morbid area accounts for 14.2%, 61.9% and 23.9% in the coastal wetlands health structure of the Yellow River Delta, respectively. During the period from 2010 to 2015, habitat quality in estuarine wetlands will be gradually improved to the healthy direction, but the environmental quality of northern and southern parts of the beach area and the Shenxian’gou flow path in the local areas will have a certain decline by natural and human impacts together. The main influencing factors of coastal wetlands health in the Yellow River Delta are the major regional water cycle process and its spatial and temporal variations under global climate change background, wetlands exploitation and other negative disturbances and the ecological operation in the lower reach of Yellow River. Much more efforts should be given to the ecological operation and restoration in the lower reach of the Yellow River for the purpose of the healthy development of the coastal wetland in the Yellow River Delta.

Key words: wetlands, coastal zones, health, the Yellow River Delta