Differencesofecologicalfunctionsinsideandoutsideth

ACTAECOLOGICASINICAVolume28,Issue2,February2008OnlineEnglisheditionoftheChineselanguagejournalCitethisarticleas:ActaEcologicaSinica,2008,28(2),620−626.Receiveddate:2007-07-20;Accepteddate:2007-11-12*Correspondingauthor.E-mail:[e-mail]©2008,EcologicalSocietyofChina.PublishedbyElsevierBV.Allrightsreserved.RESEARCHPAPERDifferencesofecologicalfunctionsinsideandoutsidethewetlandnaturereservesinSanjiangPlain,ChinaBaiXue1,2,MaKeming1,*,YangLiu3,ZhangJieyu1,ZhangXiaolei21StateKeyLaboratoryofUrbanandRegionalEcology,ResearchCentreforEco-environmentalSciences,ChineseAcademyofSciences,Beijing100085,China2XinjiangInstituteofEcologyandGeography,ChineseAcademyofSciences,Urumqi830011,China3SchoolofResourceandSafetyEngineering,ChinaUniversityofMiningandTechnology,Beijing100083,ChinaAbstract:Conservationeffectivenessofwetlandnaturereservesisdeterminedbyboththemanagementintensityinsidethere-servesandthehydrologicalstatusoutsidethereserves.Therefore,differencesofecologicalfunctionsinsideandoutsidethereservesareanintegratedindictorforassessingconservationeffectiveness.BasedonthelandusemapcreatedfromLandsat-TMsatelliteimageand1:50000DigitalElevationModel(DEM)datainthestudyarea,thecatchmentsthatbelongtothewetlandreservesweredeterminedastheirhydrologicalsensitivezonesbySWAT(SoilandWaterAssessmentTool)hydrologicalmodel.Theecologicalfunctionindicesofwetlandreservesandtheircorrespondinghydrologicalsensitivezoneswerecalculatedthroughexpertconsulta-tionandvalueassessmentonwetlandecosystemservicefunctions.Theresultsshowedthattheecologicalfunctionsofnationalwet-landreserveswerebetterthanthoseoflocalreservesingeneral.However,thewetlandecologicalfunctionsofhydrologicalsensitivezonesoftheformerwerenotalwaysbetterthanthoseofthelatter.Meanwhile,clusteringanalysisshowedthatthewetlandecologi-calfunctionsofseveraladjacentreservesinNongjiang-Bielahonghewatershedweresimilar.Butcorrelationanalysisfoundthatthereexistedaremarkablepositivecorrelationbetweenthewetlandecologicalfunctionindicesoflocalreservesandtheirhydrologicalsensitivezones.KeyWords:wetlandecologicalfunction;wetlandnaturereserve;hydrologicalsensitivezone;managementintensity;conservationeffectivenessWetlandisoneofthemostimportantecosystemsintheworld.Ithasprominentsignificanceinnotonlymaintainingtheregionalandglobalecologicalbalances,butalsoprovidinglivingenvironmentforwildanimalsandplants[1].However,wetlandhasbecomeoneofthebadlydestroyedecosystemsalongwiththefastdevelopmentofsocialeconomyandpopu-lation.Asaresult,wetlandfunctionslostmost,especiallyitsecologicalbenefit[2].Chinahasmadesomeprogressinwet-landprotectionandmanagement.Therearegreatdifferencesinprotectionandmanagementeffectsbetweendifferentwet-landreservesinChinasincethemanagementinvestsandtypesofwetlandreservesinChinawerevarious.Wetlandreserveisaspecialterrestrialreserve.Theprotec-tioneffecthasbeenimpactedbyitsmanagementintensityaswellasbythehydrologyoutsidethewetlandreserve.Becauseofthecharacteristicsofitslocation(waterarea)andprotectiveobjects(migratorybirds),comparedwithotherreservessuchasforests,itisbadtoexertclosemanagementonwetlandre-serve[3].Therefore,torealizetheeffectivemanagementandsustainabledevelopmentofwetlandreserve,pertinentmeas-uresshouldbeputforwardbasedonscientificassessmentonecologicalfunctionsofwetlandreserveandnearbyhydro-logicalsensitivezones[4–7].Thefunctionassessmentofasinglewetlandhasbeenmostlystudied[8,9],whiletherehasbeenveryfewcomparisonstudyforwetlandreserveswithdifferentscalesinaregion.Especially,thewetlandecologicalfunctionofthenearbyhydrologicalsensitivezonesanditsimpactsonwetlandreservesfellintoagap.SanjiangPlainisoneofthebiggestfreshwaterwetlanddis-tributionzonesinChina.Atthesametime,wetlandlosshereBAIXueetal./ActaEcologicaSinica,2008,28(2):620–626isthemostrapidbecauseofhumanbehavior[10,11].Wetlandreclamationwasstoppedandthecompensatorywetlandre-servesweretoberebuiltinHeilongjiangProvincein1998.TheseactshavehadsomeeffectonwetlanddecreaseinSan-jiangPlain.68wetlandreserveshadbeenfoundedinHeilong-jiangProvincebytheendof2003.Therewere24reserves(1.558×106hm2)inSanjiangPlain,whichaccountedfor35.9%ofthewetlandinthewholeprovince[12].ThesefactsindicatedthatthegovernmentofHeilongjiangProvinceindeedin-creasedwetlandreservefoundation,buttheycouldnottestifythateachwetlandreservehadbeenprotectedwell.Infact,thosesmallreserveswereinabadstatus,andthenearbylandswerereclaimedseverely.Therefore,itcouldbehelpfultobet-terunderstandthereservemanagementeffectsthatwetlandecologicalfunctionofdifferentmagnitudereservesanditsnearbyhydrologicalsensitivezoneswereassessedatfirst.Thentherelationsbetweenwetlandreservesandtheirsur-roundingenvironmentcouldbediscussedinordertoprotectandmanagewetlandresourcesatabasinorregionalscale.1StudyareaThestudyareaisinthehinterlandofSanjiangPlain,whichissubjectedtotheJiansanjiangDepartmentofHeilongjiangAgriculturalandCultivatableBureau.Itislocatedonthecom-monboundariesamongFujing,Tongjiang,FuyuanandRaohe(132°31′26E–134°22′26E,46°49′42–48°13′58N),andinthejunctionofHeilongjiang