Benthic Habitat Quality Assessment in Estuarine Intertidal Flats Based on Long-Term Data with Focus on Responses to Eco-Restoration Activity

A long-term assessment of the benthic habitat quality intertidal flats in Liaohe Estuary was conducted by three integrating ecological indices, AZTI’s Marine Biotic Index (AMBI), Multivariate-AMBI (M-AMBI), and Shannon–Wiener diversity index (H′) based on macrobenthos data from 2013 to 2020. The results showed that macrobenthic communities were characterized indifferent sensitive species AMBI groups. annual ranges H′, AMBI, M-AMBI 0.77–1.56, 1.44–3.73 0.36–0.54, respectively. Noticeable differences found among obtained these biotic indices. Approximately 100%, 24%, 78% sampling sites had “moderate”, “poor”, “bad” statuses as assessed M-AMBI, Compared with H′ may be more applicable evaluate Estuary. Results suggest middle parts still an unacceptable status has not improved radically date after large-scale “mariculture ponds restored flats”.