Ecological function evaluation of Hong Kong wetland park

Abstract

The Hong Kong Wetland Park was originally designed as Ecological Mitigation Area (EMA) to mitigate the development of northern part of Tin Shui Wai New Town development. In 1998, the Hong Kong Government modified the original plan to an international wetland park, combining the mitigation measure with education and tourism elements. Finally, the Hong Kong Wetland Park was opened to public and managed by Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department. Nevertheless, evaluation of the performance of habitat management of Hong Kong Wetland Park would still be needed for reviewing its effectiveness as a mitigation measure. This thesis aim to evaluate the ecological function of the Hong Kong Wetland Park by analysing the data of Monthly Waterbird Monitoring Programme and mist-netting study in Hong Kong Wetland Park. The diversity and abundance of waterbird species data recorded in Hong Kong Wetland Park and Mai Po Nature Reserve in Monthly Waterbird Monitoring Programme in Mai Po Inner Deep Bay area were used to analyse the trend for understanding the habitat use by waterbirds in Hong Kong Wetland Park. The trend analysis showed that the numbers of cormorants, ducks and shorebirds were increasing between 2003 and 2018. However, the numbers of cormorants, ducks and shorebirds were declining in Mai Po Nature Reserve and Deep Bay area. It means that higher proportion of these three waterbird groups were presenting in Hong Kong Wetland Park in recent years compared before. The habitat management work in Hong Kong Wetland Park was useful for attracting the waterbird species to the Park in recent years. However, size of the habitat is a limitation of the Hong Kong Wetland Park. The absence of several area-dependant species was attributed to the small size of the wetland park. The water-level and vegetation control were useful management work for the artificial wetland habitats. It can be concluded that the wetland park has been doing quite well for the waterbirds. The mist-netting study was conducted between March 2017 and December 2018. The abundance and diversity data of bird species collected by mist-netting surveys in Hong Kong Wetland Park was compared with the mist-netting surveys at similar habitats in Mai Po Nature Reserve during the same study period. The diversity and abundance of bird species at reedbed and bund vegetation of Hong Kong Wetland Park were much lower than those in the Mai Po Nature Reserve. The isolation and size of the reedbed limited the diversity and abundance of bird species in the Park. The expansion of reedbed was suggested to the park to improve the reedbed habitat quality. The result of the study showed that this size of mitigation measure acted as an important part of the wetland ecosystem. However, suitable management of habitat is also very important for keep the habitat quality of these types of habitat.