## 5 Discussion  
This study revealed a significant enhancement in landscape connectivity and a reduction in fragmentation (patch density decreased by 27.19%) in the Liaohe Estuary Wetland, aligning with the global wetland restoration strategy of \"reducing anthropogenic disturbances\". For instance, studies in the Yellow River Delta have identified oilfield exploitation and land reclamation as primary anthropogenic drivers of wetland fragmentation [43]. In contrast, the Liaohe Estuary has effectively mitigated human pressures through initiatives such as the \"returning aquaculture ponds to wetlands\" project, which removed aquaculture facilities and restored natural shorelines. These findings resonate with research on Zhuhai Wetlands, where reduced aquaculture density similarly led to decreased patch density [44]. Additionally, natural factors, such as variations in sediment transport and runoff (accounting for 35.1% of the first principal component's contribution), influenced restoration outcomes, consistent with the mechanisms of \"synergistic natural and anthropogenic drivers\" observed in the middle reaches of the Heihe River Wetlands [45]. Notably, spatial heterogeneity remains a common challenge in global wetland restoration. For example, Zhalong Wetland experienced localized fragmentation due to cropland expansion [46], while the heterogeneous water quality improvements in the Liaohe Estuary may stem from uneven regional water quality baselines, necessitating the further integration of zoning management strategies.  
The 2.41% increase in the biodiversity maintenance index was primarily attributed to enhanced habitat connectivity and reduced pollutant inputs. As highlighted by IPBES (2019), land use changes (e.g., wetland restoration) and pollution control are direct drivers of biodiversity recovery, which aligns with the Liaohe Estuary's water quality improvement (from Class IV to above Class III) and enhanced carbon sequestration capacity (12.8% increase in net primary productivity--NPP). Similarly, studies on the Ruoregai Wetland demonstrated a positive correlation between wetland area recovery and the population growth of black-necked cranes [47], a pattern corroborated by the observed increase in overwintering red-crowned cranes in the Liaohe Estuary. However, biodiversity recovery often exhibits time-lagged effects. For example, in the Dongzhai Harbor Mangrove restoration in Hainan, benthic communities required 3-5 years to stabilize [48]. Thus, long-term monitoring in the Liaohe Estuary should incorporate dynamic assessments of ecological succession.  
Figure 28: Soil conservation index change rate—area proportion map.  
This study integrated remote sensing, ground monitoring, and ecological modeling to dynamically quantify synergistic changes in water environments, landscape structures, and ecosystem services, comparable to the \"multi-source remote sensing + entropy method\" framework applied in the Wuliangsuhai Basin [49]. For instance, the simultaneous improvement in the leaf area index (LAI) and gross primary productivity (GPP) validated vegetation restoration's role in enhancing carbon sink functions, consistent with conclusions from subtropical forest restoration studies emphasizing that \"multi-source data fusion improves evaluation accuracy\" [50]. Nevertheless, current methodologies have limited capacity to capture microscopic ecological processes, such as soil microbial community reconstruction. Future efforts could integrate molecular biology techniques (e.g., environmental DNA) to refine monitoring systems [51].