Water bird habitat suitability analysis in an urban coastal wetland (case study: Lantebung mangrove ecotourism area)

Abstract

Abstract Water birds are significant wildlife in mangrove ecosystem. These aquatic birds have prominent roles for the integrity of the ecosystem. This research aimed to analyse water birds habitat suitability level at Lantebung Mangrove Ecotourism Area in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Geography Information System (GIS) and remote sensing approaches were employed in this study. Eight parameters were used for water bird habitat suitability assessment: land type, food class, water level, human disturbance, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, and temperature. All data parameters other than land type were interpolated using Inverse Distance Weighted Interpolation (IDW) in ArcGIS 10.5. Meanwhile, land types were digitized on-screen using Landsat 8 imagery (acquisition October 2018), based on GPS field tracking. The suitability assessment was done by weighted overlay analysis, based on the scoring and weighting of each layer. The results showed that the area suitable for water bird habitat at Lantebung Mangrove Ecotourism Area was approximately 44 ha or 51.2% from the total area. The majority of suitable area consisted of mangrove forest, mudflat in front of mangrove forest, and mudflat behind mangrove forest. Further sustainable effort is needed to manage the available habitats, so that water bird population can be conserved.

Access to Document

Other files and links

• Link to publication in Scopus
• Open Access Version Available

Fingerprint