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<p>Monitoring the area of coastal wetlands over time is increasingly performed using satellite imagery over large geographic scales, yet the small habitat patches common in Small Island Developing States are often left out of global wetland area estimates. Small wetland patches, and salt marshes in particular, may be difficult to map in using ecosystem classification models and medium-resolution imagery, but their inclusion is critical for these territories to be able to quantify the magnitude of ecosystem services they provide. We used the Global Wetland Layer map and expert-guided validation to quantify salt marsh extent for three islands in the Dutch Caribbean: Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire. We identified 4,566.5&#xa0;ha (3,949.9 to 5,303.9&#xa0;ha; 95% confidence interval) of salt marsh across the three islands. We calculated an overall accuracy of 77 to 87%, exceeding global accuracy, though the kappa values for Curaçao suggested the classification for that island specifically was somewhat better than chance. The patchy nature of the islands’ salt marshes and intermixture with adjacent mangroves, salt pannes, and permanent water likely contribute to the uncertainty. Sensitivity was lower than specificity, suggesting our marsh area estimates are conservative. We suggest that approaches to improve accuracy of salt marsh classification for Curaçao and improve classification models for patchy coastal wetlands more broadly. These salt marsh extent estimates for Aruba and Bonaire represent a first step for monitoring marsh area and quantifying their potential ecosystem services. Our approach can be replicated in other Small Island Developing States to monitor habitat extent in support of robust management and conservation of salt marshes.</p>

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Estimating Dutch Caribbean Salt Marsh Extent for Inclusion of Island Territories in Ecosystem Mapping

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月24日

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  • Monica M. Moritsch,
  • Anthony Campbell,
  • Austin J. Gallagher,
  • Carlos M. Duarte,
  • Tadzio Bervoets

摘要

Monitoring the area of coastal wetlands over time is increasingly performed using satellite imagery over large geographic scales, yet the small habitat patches common in Small Island Developing States are often left out of global wetland area estimates. Small wetland patches, and salt marshes in particular, may be difficult to map in using ecosystem classification models and medium-resolution imagery, but their inclusion is critical for these territories to be able to quantify the magnitude of ecosystem services they provide. We used the Global Wetland Layer map and expert-guided validation to quantify salt marsh extent for three islands in the Dutch Caribbean: Aruba, Curaçao, and Bonaire. We identified 4,566.5 ha (3,949.9 to 5,303.9 ha; 95% confidence interval) of salt marsh across the three islands. We calculated an overall accuracy of 77 to 87%, exceeding global accuracy, though the kappa values for Curaçao suggested the classification for that island specifically was somewhat better than chance. The patchy nature of the islands’ salt marshes and intermixture with adjacent mangroves, salt pannes, and permanent water likely contribute to the uncertainty. Sensitivity was lower than specificity, suggesting our marsh area estimates are conservative. We suggest that approaches to improve accuracy of salt marsh classification for Curaçao and improve classification models for patchy coastal wetlands more broadly. These salt marsh extent estimates for Aruba and Bonaire represent a first step for monitoring marsh area and quantifying their potential ecosystem services. Our approach can be replicated in other Small Island Developing States to monitor habitat extent in support of robust management and conservation of salt marshes.