Comprehensive Evaluation of Island Habitat Quality Based on the Invest Model and Terrain Diversity: A Case Study of Haitan Island, China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

1.      Abstract. Delete "Considering the limitations of the Invest model in addressing terrain factors and the distinct nature of island ecosystems." and rewrite the sentence.

2.      Abstract. Streamline the presentation of the results, which are currently too numerous.

3.      Fig. 1. Add latitude and longitude.

4.      Figures. km instead of Km.

5.      Fig. 3. All abbreviations should be labelled in full in the figure name.

6.      Conclusion written like a discussion. Conclusions should be concise and the author should summarise the conclusions of this study and express each conclusion in no more than 200 words.

7.      The expression of place names appears several times in the text, but the authors have not labelled them in Figure 1.

8.      Multiple models and methods were used in this study and it is recommended that the authors add a roadmap of research techniques in Section 2.

9.      Line 105. There is an error in this sentence; the continental coastal zone is 18,400km and the island coastal zone is approximately 14,000km in length.

10.  2.1.2. The website where the authors added data to the manuscript and the date of access.

11.  Figure 5. The general discussion does not contain figures and tables. The authors need to distinguish carefully between the results and the discussion. I would suggest putting the results section of 4 Discussion in 3 Results.

12.  All abbreviations in the manuscript only need to be given their full name the first time they appear; subsequent ones do not need to be labeled with the full name. However, all abbreviations in the figures need to be marked with their full names.

13.  Language needs to be checked further.

Many sentences need rephrasing and are not expressed succinctly enough.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

 It is a systematic study and needs competitive analysis to strengthen the literature review. The study needs more references for a different experience and input in the research. Please be sure of the paper arrangements that some topic appears at the end of the page, which needs to be done appropriately.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 3 Report

The abstract need to be re-written as it doesn't clearly state the objectives of the study. Questions that need to be answered  in the abstract are:

1) Why is the Invest model being used, and what are the strengths and limitations being addressed in the study? (relevant info is found in lines 93-97, 184-188, 413-414, and 430-431)

2) What is "blue-green" space? (defined in lines 246-250)

3) line 29 - "western wet" what? area?

4) How big is Haitain Island? (found in line 122)

In general, for main body text, if the paragraph is longer than 15 lines, please condense it or break it into smaller paragraphs for readability. It's frustrating to read long paragraphs with very dense information.

Line 53: "Sustainable urban" what? environments?

Table 2: Why is farmland both a threat and a landscape type. It seems like this would confound/confuse the output.

Table 4: Caption doesn't describe what the table is showing, and the data in the table don't seem useful or additive to the paper. Suggest deleting.

3.1.2 and all mentions of "habitat quality" - Habitat for whom? These landscapes provide habitat for a variety of species, yet we have no idea from the paper what kinds of species use the habitats on this island. Maps and figures showing habitat quality don't add value unless we know what kinds of species are using the habitats.

Table 4 (2): There seem to be two table 4's. This one is not necessary as the data are mentioned in the previous paragraph and shown in the map as well. Suggest deleting.

In discussion: Please pay attention to redundancy. Some of these paragraphs contain information that has been stated elsewhere in the paper in almost the same way. Please only share information that is additive to the paper or leave it out if we have already seen it.

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 4 Report

Even if forestland makes up for 66.8% of total area, signifying favorable overall ecological conditions, for what species is this intended?

Did the authors consider taking into account data regarding on species distribution and density in the study area? Or the IUCN list of threatened species? Of course, urban development and expansion threatens diverse habitats, species, and not only….but…which of them are more important? Taking as example the city I live in, the expansion in some cases takes place in areas where we do not find threatened species. On the other hand, sometimes urban space can be used by diverse species. I am monitoring each morning the population from my city area where I live of Falco tinnunculus, Corvus frugilegus, Corvus sp. Source 12 mentions this aspect.

Rows 74-75 – “and has the advantage of not requiring information on species richness or numbers”. How can you assess habitat quality without referring to the species living in the area?

Is climate change taken into account in what regards these aspects, because recent changes have influenced the preferences of some species?

Row 83-84…that classification is mentioned for a long time in all books on physical geography…and the list is long.

Any mention about Tasmania, Galapagos, etc.?

Row 107…reconsider the mention about Taiwan. Also the phrase.

The methodology is OK, but frequently we find terms such as biased, not that OK.

Sorry for the copy paste from Wikipedia….but as I mentioned before, how can someone define the habitat for a worm, a bird, a mammal etc. based solely on land use, climate, terrain?

Maybe a change in the title would be preferred….habitat-type, or other?

In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ecological niche. Thus "habitat" is a species-specific term, fundamentally different from concepts such as environment or vegetation assemblages, for which the term "habitat-type" is more appropriate

Even if forestland makes up for 66.8% of total area, signifying favorable overall ecological conditions, for what species is this intended?

Did the authors consider taking into account data regarding on species distribution and density in the study area? Or the IUCN list of threatened species? Of course, urban development and expansion threatens diverse habitats, species, and not only….but…which of them are more important? Taking as example the city I live in, the expansion in some cases takes place in areas where we do not find threatened species. On the other hand, sometimes urban space can be used by diverse species. I am monitoring each morning the population from my city area where I live of Falco tinnunculus, Corvus frugilegus, Corvus sp. Source 12 mentions this aspect.

Rows 74-75 – “and has the advantage of not requiring information on species richness or numbers”. How can you assess habitat quality without referring to the species living in the area?

Is climate change taken into account in what regards these aspects, because recent changes have influenced the preferences of some species?

Row 83-84…that classification is mentioned for a long time in all books on physical geography…and the list is long.

Any mention about Tasmania, Galapagos, etc.?

Row 107…reconsider the mention about Taiwan. Also the phrase.

The methodology is OK, but frequently we find terms such as biased, not that OK.

Sorry for the copy paste from Wikipedia….but as I mentioned before, how can someone define the habitat for a worm, a bird, a mammal etc. based solely on land use, climate, terrain?

Maybe a change in the title would be preferred….habitat-type, or other?

In ecology, habitat refers to the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical manifestation of its ecological niche. Thus "habitat" is a species-specific term, fundamentally different from concepts such as environment or vegetation assemblages, for which the term "habitat-type" is more appropriate

Author Response

Please see the attachment

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The content of the comments I made has been improved.

There are still some formatting errors in the manuscript.