Abstract: Understanding the spatial evolution of mangrove patches is important to comprehensively and accurately evaluate the results of protection and restoration efforts in regional mangroves. In this study, the recent 30-year changes in area and number of mangrove patches in Maowei Sea and their driving factors were analyzed. The 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2019 Landsat remote sensing images were used as the main data sources, whereas the landscape dynamic analysis, spatial overlay analysis and main transformation route counting were adopted as the analytical approaches. The results demonstrated that: (1) The area of mangrove in Maowei Sea increased from 479.7 hm² to 1 477.5 hm² between 1990 and 2019 with the centroid shifting northward and westward. (2) Anthropogenic and natural factors were identified as the main driving force leading the changes in mangrove patch quantity in Maowei Sea from 1990 to 2010 and 2010 to 2019, respectively. (3) The number of mangrove patches increased from 204 in 1990 to 405 in 2019. However, the simultaneous occurrence of declining patch density and increasing mean patch size indicated that the patch fragmentation had been alleviated caused by the driving of natural factors. The artificial plantation of mangroves, especially using Sonneratia apetala, had contributed to the overall increase in mangrove area in Maowei Sea. Nevertheless, research on the artificial forestation process, expansion mechanism of mangrove patches and their ecological effects should be emphasized in future.

Key words: Maowei Sea, mangrove, patch, influencing factor, forest plantation