Effect of the freshwater restoration projects on ecosystem services in Yellow River Delta Wetlands

Since 2002, a series of freshwater restoration projects have been implemented in the Yellow River Delta Wetlands, which replenished the freshwater resources in the coastal wetlands, improved the vegetation cover, and promoted the ecosystem services and function. In this paper, we have used InVEST model and market value method to assess the domain ecosystem services, including carbonreservation, habitat quality, and material production, and discussed the effects of freshwater restoration projects on the ecosystem services variation from 1989 to 2015. We found that the type of land use/land cover has a trend of simplicity, and the area of Phragmitesaustralis has increased greatly. The districtswith the lowest value of carbon density has decreased, but the total carbon reservation reduced firstly and then increased along with the study period. Most of the area has the highest habitat quality, and average values in the material productionhave increase annually. The variation in carbon density has reduced, indicating a steady trend. The promotion in habitat quality focused on the north of the Yellow River Mouth’ restored wetlands and the south of the Yiqianer’ restored wetlands. The results showed that the implementation of restoration projects has restored ecosystem successful, and attained the goal of the environmental flow releases.