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Loss of Coastal Wetlands in Lake Burullus, Egypt: A GIS and Remote-Sensing Study

Author

Listed:
  • Amr E. Keshta

    (Botany Department, College of Science, Tanta University, Tanta 31512, Egypt
    Department of Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland, Animal Science Building 142, College Park, MD 20742, USA)

  • J. C. Alexis Riter

    (Department of Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland, Animal Science Building 142, College Park, MD 20742, USA)

  • Kamal H. Shaltout

    (Botany Department, College of Science, Tanta University, Tanta 31512, Egypt)

  • Andrew H. Baldwin

    (Department of Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland, Animal Science Building 142, College Park, MD 20742, USA)

  • Michael Kearney

    (Department of Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland, Animal Science Building 142, College Park, MD 20742, USA)

  • Ahmed Sharaf El-Din

    (Botany Department, College of Science, Tanta University, Tanta 31512, Egypt)

  • Ebrahem M. Eid

    (Biology Department, College of Science, King Khalid University, Abha 61321, Saudi Arabia
    Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafr El-Sheikh 33516, Egypt)

Abstract

Lake Burullus is the second largest lake at the northern edge of the Nile Delta, Egypt, and has been recognized as an internationally significant wetland that provides a habitat for migrating birds, fish, herpetofauna, and mammals. However, the lake is experiencing severe human impacts including drainage and conversion to agricultural lands and fish farms. The primary goal of this study was to use multispectral, moderate-spatial-resolution (30 m 2 ) Landsat satellite imagery to assess marsh loss in Lake Burullus, Egypt, in the last 35 years (1985–2020). Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analyses (ISODATA) unsupervised techniques were applied to the Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager–Thermal Infrared Sensor (OLI–TIRS) satellite images for classification of the Lake Burullus area into four main land-use classes: water, marsh, unvegetated land surfaces (roads, paths, sand sheets and dunes), and agricultural lands and fish farms. The overall classification accuracy was estimated to be 96% and the Kappa index was 0.95. Our results indicated that there is a substantial loss (44.8% loss) in the marsh aerial coverage between 1985 and 2020. The drainage and conversion of wetlands into agricultural lands and/or fish farms is concentrated primarily in the western and southern part of the lake where the surface area of the agricultural lands and/or fish farms doubled (103.2% increase) between 2000 and 2020. We recommend that land-use-policy makers and environmental government agencies raise public awareness among the local communities of Lake Burullus of the economic and environmental consequences of the alarming loss of marshland, which will likely have adverse effects on water quality and cause a reduction in the invaluable wetland-ecosystem services.

Suggested Citation

  • Amr E. Keshta & J. C. Alexis Riter & Kamal H. Shaltout & Andrew H. Baldwin & Michael Kearney & Ahmed Sharaf El-Din & Ebrahem M. Eid, 2022. "Loss of Coastal Wetlands in Lake Burullus, Egypt: A GIS and Remote-Sensing Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-16, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:9:p:4980-:d:798933
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Salem, Muhammad & Tsurusaki, Naoki & Divigalpitiya, Prasanna, 2020. "Remote sensing-based detection of agricultural land losses around Greater Cairo since the Egyptian revolution of 2011," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    2. Leah H Beckett & Andrew H Baldwin & Michael S Kearney, 2016. "Tidal Marshes across a Chesapeake Bay Subestuary Are Not Keeping up with Sea-Level Rise," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(7), pages 1-12, July.
    3. Edward L. Webb & Daniel A. Friess & Ken W. Krauss & Donald R. Cahoon & Glenn R. Guntenspergen & Jacob Phelps, 2013. "A global standard for monitoring coastal wetland vulnerability to accelerated sea-level rise," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 3(5), pages 458-465, May.
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    Cited by:

    1. Amr E. Keshta & Kamal H. Shaltout & Andrew H. Baldwin & Ahmed Sharaf El-Din & Ebrahem M. Eid, 2022. "Variation in Plant Community Composition and Biomass to Macro and Micronutrients and Salinity across Egypt’s Five Major Coastal Lakes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-15, May.
    2. Zhaobin Li & Lei Ma & Dongmei Gou & Qianqian Hong & Leungkam Fai & Bo Xiong, 2022. "The Impact of Urban Development on Wetland Conservation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-18, October.
    3. Minjing Wang & Yanyan Kang & Zhuyou Sun & Jun Lei & Xiuqiang Peng, 2022. "Monitoring Wetland Landscape Evolution Using Landsat Time-Series Data: A Case Study of the Nantong Coast, China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-20, October.

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