Land claim and loss of tidal flats in the Yangtze Estuary

Tidal flats play a critical role in supporting biodiversity and in providing ecosystem services but are rapidly disappearing because of human activities. The Yangtze Estuary is one of the world’s largest alluvial estuaries and is adjacent to the most developed economic zone in China. Using the Yangtze Estuary as a study region, we developed an automatic algorithm to estimate tidal flat areas based on the Land Surface Water Index and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. The total area of tidal flats in the Yangtze Estuary has decreased by 36% over the past three decades, including a 38% reduction in saltmarshes and a 31% reduction in barren mudflats. Meanwhile, land claim has accumulated to 1077 km(2), a value that exceeds the area of the remaining tidal flats. We divided the Yangtze Estuary into Shanghai and Jiangsu areas, which differ in riverine sediment supply and tidal flat management patterns. Although land claim has accelerated in both areas, the decline in tidal flat area has been much greater in Jiangsu than in Shanghai because of abundant supplies of sediment and artificial siltation in the latter area. The results highlight the need for better coastal planning and management based on tidal flat dynamics.