Vegetation Restoration and Conservation Plans for Integrated Coastal Management in Hengqin, China

ABSTRACT Fan, S.; Ren, H.; Wang, R.; Pan, C.; Huang, G.; Chen, Y.; Zhan, P.; Yang, J.; Luo, H.; Jian, S., and Wu, X., 2013. Vegetation restoration and conservation plans for integrated coastal management in Hengqin, China. In 2009, the Chinese government approved the use of Hengqin Island for a large-scale development that will have serious consequences for plant biodiversity and plant communities in the island ecosystem as a whole. To construct an integrated and healthy vegetation ecosystem on Hengqin Island, we investigated the current vegetation and soil and developed a plan for vegetation conservation and rehabilitation. Satellite images captured over the last 30 years show that the island's coastline has changed greatly and that the forest land, water area, farmland, and urban land has greatly increased because of reclamation. The island currently supports 896 species of vascular plants, which are distributed in nine types of community. The plantation is the dominant community, although there are sev...