Assessment of the Habitat Quality of Offshore Area in Tongzhou Bay, China: Using Benthic Habitat Suitability and the InVEST Model

作者：Haifeng Zhang, Sida Li, Yun Liu, Min Xu · 发表于：Water · 年份：2022 · DOI：10.3390/w14101574 · 被引用次数：24 · 研究领域：Marine Biology and Ecology Research、Coastal and Marine Management、Marine and fisheries research

Coastal zones, and in particular offshore areas, are coming under ever-increasing pressure from human development. Therefore, the evaluation of habitat quality is of vital importance for management of coastal zones. The InVEST model adopts a multi-module and multi-level design form, which has the advantages of strong visualization and fast calculation. As a result, this study used the InVEST-Habitat quality (HQ) model to assess the habitat quality of the Tongzhou Bay offshore area. Development activities were included in the classification of habitat types and the benthic habitat suitability index was used to describe the spatial variation in habitat quality of the offshore area. The results showed that the methodological approach mentioned above achieved a more detailed assessment of the spatial variation in habitat quality. The empirical model constructed based on the relationship between the Shannon–Weiner index and environmental factors performed well in revealing the suitability of habitat, with the regression equation showing an R2 of 0.57 and R2 of 0.5 significant at level of p < 0.05. The habitat suitability of Tongzhou Bay water was mainly influenced by aquaculture and industrial sea use. The habitat quality of Tongzhou Bay was relatively low due to disturbance by coastal development and a low water habitat suitability. The distribution of habitat quality in Tongzhou Bay was uneven and improved with the increase of the distance from the coast. Improvement of the h...