A wetland restoration spatial analysis in the Lower Reaches of Songhua River (LRSR), Northeast China

Abstract

Wetlands in the Lower Reaches of Songhua River (LRSR) is one of the most important wetland distribution area. However, owing to expanded agricultural activities since the 1950s, wetlands in this area has decreased in size and deteriorated in quality. Wetlands restoration is necessary to improve the present situation. Using remote sensing and geographic information systems technologies, a wetland restoration model was established, and landscape structure factor, buffer factor, wetness index, farmland productivity and geomorphology were integrated in the model. The landscape and buffer data were derived from land cover data, wetness index and geomorphology data were derived from digital elevation model (DEM) data, and farmland productivity were derived from MODIS products. Based on these data layers, we identified sizes for wetland restoration. After the wetland restoration of the higher and lower priority area, the whole wetland area of LRSR was 682993ha, increased 45.77% of the existing area. © 2013. The authors.