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Balancing urbanization and habitat conservation on Lingkun Island, China

Huiyuan Chen, Shaoyi Wang, Jun Xing, Huabin Shentu, Yang Ping, Haitian Wu, Furong Wu, Gang Cheng, senjun huang, Hailan Yu

Abstract

Context: Small estuarine islands are biodiversity hotspots yet are being rapidly transformed by infrastructure-led urbanisation. Aims: Quantify land-cover change and ecological consequences on Lingkun Island, China (2009-2023). Methods: Landsat time-series were segmented into 120452 objects and classified into six land-use classes; ten indicators of ecosystem function, disturbance and resilience were scored (0-5) and combined into composite indices of ecosystem quality and sensitivity. Key results: Urban construction land expanded 57.7 %, whereas natural and semi-natural habitats shrank 18.5 %. Ecosystem quality Index (IEQ) fell 28.4 % (0.62 to 0.45) and ecosystem sensitivity Index (IES) rose 34.1 % (0.41 to 0.55). Traditional orchards contracted 68.9 % and aquaculture ponds 27.6 %, leaving only 184 ha of contiguous wetland for East Asian-Australasian Flyway shorebirds and Japanese eel. The IEQ-IES framework, anchored in object-oriented segmentation, reveals resilience deficits that pixel-based island studies overlook. Conclusions:Railway-driven urbanisation has triggered a rapid, irreversible shift from heterogeneous rural mosaics to simplified urban systems, eroding ecological integrity and adaptive capacity. Implications: Immediate wetland protection, a minimum 30 % urban green-space mandate and community-based ecological monitoring are urged. Because the indicator framework relies on imagery and expert scoring, it is transferable to other “island-port-rail”developments that must reconcile connectivity with conservation.

MF25042  Accepted 05 September 2025

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