ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Coastal Ocean Processes
This article is part of the Research TopicHuman Activities and Coastal Biogenic Element Cycles: Linkages, Drivers, and Mechanistic InsightsView all articles
Integrated Assessment of Ecological Environment Quality in the Eastern Coastal Zone of Hainan Island (China) Using GIS and the Analytic Hierarchy Process
Provisionally accepted
Kaizhe Fu1Zeheng Chen1
Jiyong Ma1*Lin Zhou1*Xiaolei Liu2Yue Gou3Mingguang He1Shiyou Zhang1Dayu Bian1Jianhua Guo1- 1Haikou Marine Geological Survey Center, China Geological Survey, Haikou, China
- 2Xinjiang Geologial Bureau HAMI Geological Brigade, Xinjiang, China
- 3Guiyang Baiyun District Municipal Development and Construction Co., Ltd., Guiyang, China
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The core eastern coastal cities of Qionghai and Wanning on Hainan Island are facing mounting pressures on their ecological integrity and biodiversity, driven by intensifying human activities. Based on a systematic analysis of the ecological–geological environmental conditions in the eastern coastal zone of Hainan Island and its surrounding areas, this study selected multiple evaluation across topographic, geologic, hydrologic, pedologic, and anthropogenic dimensions, including topography and geomorphology, stratigraphy and lithology, surface water quality, groundwater quality, soil quality, land use, and ecosystem type. The Delphi method was employed to determine the weight of each factor, and ArcGIS spatial analysis was used to comprehensively evaluate the ecological environmental quality of the study area. The results indicate that human activities are the dominant factor influencing ecological environmental quality. The eastern coastal zone of Hainan Island can be divided into four categories: excellent, good, moderate, and poor ecological quality. Among them, the coastal aquaculture areas such as Wancheng Town, Dongao Town, and Xiaohai Bay in Wanning are classified as zones of relatively poor ecological environmental quality. Moving forward, coastal management strategies should prioritize ecological risk regulation in human-disturbed areas, enhance pollution control in aquaculture zones, and strengthen land-use regulation to promote sustained improvement in regional ecological quality.
Keywords: analytic hierarchy process (AHP), ArcGIS technology, Coastal zone, Ecological Environment Quality Index, ecological environmental quality assessment, Hainan Island
Received: 18 Nov 2025; Accepted: 15 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Fu, Chen, Ma, Zhou, Liu, Gou, He, Zhang, Bian and Guo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Jiyong Ma
Lin Zhou
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