Tidal flats of the Yellow Sea: A review of ecosystem status and anthropogenic threats

• Published in: Austral ecology Vol. 40; no. 4; pp. 472 - 481
• Main Authors: Murray, Nicholas J., Ma, Zhijun, Fuller, Richard A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Richmond Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.06.2015
• Subjects: Algae; Algal blooms; Anthropogenic factors; Bird populations; birds; China; Coastal ecosystems; coastal wetland; coasts; conservation areas; ecosystem decline; Ecosystem services; Ecosystems; Endangered & extinct species; Eutrophication; fauna; fisheries; habitats; Hypoxia; invertebrates; IUCN Red List of Ecosystem; Land reclamation; land restoration; migratory behavior; Migratory birds; monitoring; Nature conservation; North Korea; people; planning; pollution; Protected areas; remote sensing; risk assessment habitat loss; Scyphozoa; South Korea; Tidal flats; Topographic mapping; wetland status; Yellow Sea; Yellow Sea; South Korea; China; North Korea
• ISSN: 1442-9985; 1442-9993
• DOI: 10.1111/aec.12211

Tidal flats provide ecosystem services to billions of people worldwide, yet their changing status is largely unknown. In the Yellow Sea region of East Asia, tidal flats are the principal coastal ecosystem fringing more than 4000 km of the coastlines of China, North Korea and South Korea. However, widespread loss of areal extent, increasing frequency of algal blooms, hypoxic dead zones and jellyfish blooms, and declines of commercial fisheries and migratory bird populations suggest that this ecosystem is degraded and declining. Here, we apply the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Ecosystems criteria to the Yellow Sea tidal flat ecosystem and determine that its status is endangered. Comparison of standardized remotely sensed habitat data and historic topographic map data indicated that in the last 50 years, a decline of more than 50% but less than 80% of tidal flat extent has occurred (criterion A1). Although restricted to a narrow band along the coastline, Yellow Sea tidal flats are sufficiently broadly distributed to be classified as least concern under criterion B. However, widespread pollution, algal blooms and declines of invertebrate and vertebrate fauna across the region result in a classification of endangered (C1, D1). Owing to the lack of long‐term monitoring data and the unknown impacts of severe biotic and abiotic change, the ecosystem was scored as data deficient for Criterion E and several subcriteria. Our assessment demonstrates an urgent need to arrest the decline of the Yellow Sea tidal flat ecosystem, which could be achieved by (i) improved coastal planning and management at regional and national levels, (ii) expansion of the coastal protected area network, and (iii) improved managed of existing protected areas to reduce illegal land reclamation and coastal exploitation.