Spatio-Temporal Changes of Mangrove-Covered Tidal Flats over 35 Years Using Satellite Remote Sensing Imageries: A Case Study of Beibu Gulf, China

Tidal flats provide ecosystem services to billions of people worldwide; however, their changing status is largely unknown. Several challenges in the fine extraction of tidal flats using remote sensing techniques, including tide-level and water-edge line changes, exist at present, especially regarding the spatial and temporal distribution of mangroves. This study proposed a tidal flats extraction method using a combination of threshold segmentation and tidal-level correction, considering the influence of mangrove changes. We extracted the spatial distribution of tidal flats in Beibu Gulf, Southwest China, from 1987 to 2021 using time-series Landsat and Sentinel-2 images, and further analyzed the dynamic variation characteristics of the total tidal flats, each coastal segment, and the range of erosion and silting. To quantitatively investigate the interaction between tidal flats and mangroves, this study established a regression model based on multi-temporal tidal flats and mangrove data. The results indicated that the overall accuracy of the tidal flat extraction results was 93.9%, and the kappa coefficient was 0.82. The total area of tidal flats in Beibu Gulf decreased by 130 km(2) from 1987 to 2021, with an average annual change of -3.7 km(2)/a. In addition, a negative correlation between the tidal flat change area and mangrove change area in Shankou, Maowei Sea, and Pearl Bay was observed, with correlation coefficients of -0.28, -0.30 and -0.64, respectively. These results demonstrate that the distribution of tidal flats provides a good environment and expansion space for the rapid growth of mangroves. These results can provide references for tidal flats' resource conservation, ecological health assessment, and vegetation changes in coastal wetlands in China and other countries in Southeast Asia.

Automated summary

This study proposes a method for extracting tidal flats using remote sensing techniques, and investigates their dynamic variation characteristics and interaction with mangroves in Beibu Gulf, Southwest China. The results show that the total area of tidal flats decreased by 130 km(2) from 1987 to 2021, with an average annual change of -3.7 km(2)/a. Additionally, a negative correlation between tidal flat change area and mangrove change area was observed in Shankou, Maowei Sea, and Pearl Bay. These results provide valuable references for tidal flats’ resource conservation and vegetation changes in coastal wetlands.