Tidal flats of the Y ellow S ea: A review of ecosystem status and anthropogenic threats

Tidal flats provide ecosystem services to billions of people worldwide, yet their changing status is largely unknown. In the Y ellow S ea region of E ast A sia, tidal flats are the principal coastal ecosystem fringing more than 4000 km of the coastlines of C hina, N orth K orea and S outh K orea. 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 R ed L ist of E cosystems criteria to the Y ellow S ea 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 A 1). Although restricted to a narrow band along the coastline, Y ellow S ea 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 ( C 1, D 1). 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 Y ellow S ea 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.