Study on Wetland Evolution and Landscape Pattern Changes in the Shaanxi Section of the Loess Plateau in the Past 40 Years

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report (Previous Reviewer 2)

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I appreciate the authors for addressing some of my comments. However, there are some issues that should be addressed as follows:

 

I would recommend the authors to double-check the introduction section and add proper references to support your statements.

Lines 31-33: Please add a reference.

Lines 52-53: Please add a reference.

Lines 54-55: Please add a reference.

 

Please provide more details on your classification task. It’s not clear what classifier you used in this study.

 

Line 110: “The remote sensing monitoring data of land use primarily come from Landsat-MSS, TM, ETM, and Landsat 8 images. “ Please clearly mention the type of data used for each epoch. For example, what data did you use to generate wetland maps for the years 1980, 1990, and 2000?

 

 Please explain in more detail about training samples. How did you collect them? You mentioned that you used data collected in fieldwork and surveys between 2016 and  2023. How did you use these data for wetland mapping between 1980-2020?

 

Provide more information about how you assessed the accuracy of the generated wetland maps.

 

The figure can still be presented in a better way.

 

The English needs improvement. Here are some examples from the abstract section:

Line 15: “Datas” should be “data”.

Line 17: “Wetlands dynamic degree model” should be “the wetlands dynamic degree model”.

Line 27: “Theoretical” should be “a theoretical” and “Shannxi section” should be “the Shannxi section”.

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

The English needs improvement. Here are some examples from the abstract section:

Line 15: “Datas” should be “data”.

Line 17: “Wetlands dynamic degree model” should be “the wetlands dynamic degree model”.

Line 27: “Theoretical” should be “a theoretical” and “Shannxi section” should be “the Shannxi section”.

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report (New Reviewer)

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Suggest – lines 52-54 would benefit from creating an overview map to be included as Figure 1 to represent the Loess Plateau, the Yellow River, and selective cities mentioned in lines 52-54, and the location within the north-central part of China.

I would suggest renaming Figure 1 to Figure 2 and adding labels to the overview map.

Page 6  - line 173 and 174. The authors are attributing the reduction in wetlands in 2010 to drought. As drought has been a concern for this area before 2010, it would help support this conclusion if the authors provided some data in the paper to support this. (I would suggest adding a table, chart, or a couple of sentences describing the variance in temperature and precipitation that this area experienced during the study times).

I would consider reviewing lines 176-177.

Page 10 – Figure 4 – This figure would support the findings of Tables 3 and 4 better if the authors could indicate the areas of change, on the maps.

The conclusion could use some improvements. It seems to be an after thought for a strong research effort.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report (Previous Reviewer 2)

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I thank authors for their efforts to improve the manuscript. However, i still have some concerns as follows:

 

You mentioned using man-machine interactive visual interpretation in your response to comment 2. Could you please provide a reference for this model?

In your response to comment 4, you did not address how you used the data collected during fieldwork and surveys between 2016 and 2023 for wetland mapping between 1980 and 2020. Could you explain how these data were utilized in your research?

 Regarding response 3, please avoid using "Mostly".

 In accuracy assessment, please remove the “Kappa coefficient” as a metric to evaluate your work. The efficiency of Kappa for accuracy assessment has been seriously challenged. More information is available in Pontius Jr, R. G., & Millones, M. (2011). Death to Kappa: Birth of quantity disagreement and allocation disagreement for accuracy assessment. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 32(15), 4407-4429.

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

Due to the intensification of climate change and human activities, the wetlands of the Loess Plateau are generally in a state of degradation and shrinkage. This study is based on the remote sensing data of the Shaanxi section of the Loess Plateau from 1980 to 2020, combined with the investigation and survey data, to analyze the wetland evolution and landscape pattern changes in the Shaanxi section of the Loess Plateau from 1980 to 2020, in order to provide a scientific reference for wetland protection and rational utilization of resources in the region and serve national ecological security. However, the article still has the following problems to be modified :

1. Check whether lines 85 and 86 are expressed incorrectly.

2. Uniformly check the formatting problems in the article, for example, Formula 1 of 125 lines and formula 2 of 138 lines are not aligned, and carefully check whether the issue, volume, and page numbers of the references are complete.

3. The figures in the article are not clear, please improve the resolution of the figures in the article.

4.3.1.1 Temporal Variation Analysis There is a problem with the title. Is it only time that changes? No space for variation?

5. There are too many tables in the article, can you convert them into pictures and visualize the data? Table 10 is incomplete.

6. It is suggested to increase the discussion on what causes the centroid shift of wetlands, the increase in the total area of wetlands and constructed wetlands, and the decrease in the area of natural wetlands?

Comments on the Quality of English Language

 Extensive editing of English language required

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I have reviewed Study on "Wetlands Evolution and Landscape Pattern Changes in the Shaanxi Section of the Loess Plateau in the Past 40 Years".  The topic is interesting, but the work needs substantial improvements.

 

 

The abstract could be enhanced by adding a sentence at the beginning to underscore the importance of wetland mapping and the study area. At the end of the abstract, a sentence highlighting the significance of these findings for the scientific community and authorities would also be beneficial. Consider splitting the first sentence into two for better clarity and flow.

In the introduction, the structure needs refinement to provide a clearer overview of the paper's contributions. Currently, the three paragraphs cover the general importance of wetlands, previous studies on quantitative analysis methods of landscape patterns, and the study area, but they lack conclusive statements and references. Each paragraph should ideally end with a summary sentence that reinforces its main point. For instance, the first paragraph might conclude with, "Therefore, the study of wetlands is crucial for understanding their ecological and environmental roles." Additionally, it is not clear what the novel contributions of this study are. Clarifying this would strengthen the introduction.

The figures presented could be improved by including the location of the study area within China and depicting elevation ranges, which would enhance the visual and informational value of the research.

Regarding specific lines in the manuscript:

• Line 97: Please provide more detailed information about the datasets from the Resource and Environmental Science Data Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, especially concerning the land use remote sensing monitoring data. A detailed description would aid in understanding the scope and reliability of the data used.
• Line 105: Clarify what is meant by "5 remote sensing monitoring data." Listing these datasets explicitly would help readers grasp the data framework underpinning your analysis.
• Line 111: Explain the rationale for selecting the six indices at the type level. Discussing the basis for these choices will help elucidate their relevance and how they contribute to your study's objectives.

Additionally, I recommend using an abbreviation for “the Shaanxi section of the Loess Plateau” to enhance readability and conserve space throughout the document.

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

Some sentences in the manuscript are difficult to understand due to their complexity and construction. For example, the first sentence is overly long, and it redundantly mentions the time period twice. Consider simplifying this sentence and ensuring that time periods are only stated once to enhance clarity.

In the same sentence, the phrase "changes of wetlands" should be revised to "changes in wetlands" for correct grammatical structure.

Additionally, there is a missing comma in the same sentence after "landscape pattern index," which disrupts the flow of reading.

Regarding Line 41, "in related research at home and abroad," this phrasing is a common style in Chinese researches/proposals, but it might not be suitable for an international journal.

 

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article submitted for review concerns long-term analyses of wetland change in a selected area of China. The main strength of the paper is the presentation of data from the last 40 years. However, the question arises as to whether the presented results represent a general pattern of change over a larger world area or, rather, a case study. The literature in the paper inclines me towards the latter hypothesis, although I cannot be sure. A major shortcoming is the need for a formulated research hypothesis. There is only a vague objective, which could be more attractive to the potential international reader. The description of the research area is prepared for a reader unfamiliar with the Chinese area, so once again, there is an objection to the localness of the research presented. 

The main objection is treating the very problem of changes in the amount of wetlands. The authors only collated the information. There needs to be a more in-depth analysis of the situation and the possible consequences for the country, the continent, or the world. When reading the study, I often think it is a report rather than a study with scientific implications. 

The structure of the results chapter could be more logical. The authors have generated a large number of subchapters, which makes the text unreadable. For example, the description should not start with a reference to a table. 

Author Response

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