Post-Restoration Monitoring of Wetland Restored from Farmland Indicated That Its Effectiveness Barely Measured Up

Abstract

In the context of wetland restoration, the reconstruction of an ecosystem’s structure typically manifests within a relatively short timeframe, while the restoration of its function often necessitates an extended period of time following the implementation of restoration measures. Consequently, it becomes imperative to engage in the comprehensive, long-term dynamic monitoring of restored wetlands to capture timely information regarding the ecological health status of wetland restoration. In this paper, we aimed to precisely assess the ecosystem health of a typical wetland that had been converted from farmland to wetland in Fujin National Wetland Park in 2022. We selected 18 ecological, social, and economic indicators to establish a wetland ecological health evaluation model, and then used the method of an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to calculate the weights for each indicator and acquire the ecological health index (EHI) score. The results of our study revealed that the ecosystem health index was 3.68, indicating that the FNWP wetland ecosystem was in “good” condition; this result was mainly affected by wetland water quality (0.382). The ecological health assessment of restored wetlands can monitor wetland ecological resources and provide a scientific basis for the management and protection of restored wetlands.