The practices of wetland creation and restoration for mitigating wetland loss have been frequently carried out throughout the world; however, many of these projects do not work well. In this paper, the authors analyze wetland creation from the aspect of whole-ecosystem development, and explain the extreme difficulty of human design in wetland creation by the theories of ecological succession. More space should be given to self-design than human design in wetland creation, and the principles of ecological succession enable us to better use the great design ability of nature in just the way we wish. A wetland creation project for rare waterfowl conservation in China Yancheng Biosphere Reserve was chosen as a demonstration, designed totally according to the principles of ecological succession and allowed to self-design free of interference from human activities. A 240 ha reed wetland was created from the lalang grassland after 4 years of self-design. Success was proved by its plant composition and a good habitat value for many more birds than in the same area 4 years before.

Vegetation establishment is the most important among physical, chemical and biological reconstructions for wetland restoration. However, sources of plant propagules such as seeds, shoots and rhizomes in native sediments or from adjacent sites are limited and often have other disadvantages. There have been very few reports focusing on the solving of the problem. This paper deals with our strategies and techniques in vegetation recovering on degraded coastal marshes, and highlights the solving of propagules deficiency. First, to select tool species, soil chemical components are analyzed to determine the key factors that restrict the growth of plants, and experimental plantings of candidate species are set up inside objective sites. Then, aiming to solve the problem of propagule resource deficiency, tissue culture is conducted in laboratory to clone enough seedlings of the tool species; and to increase the surviving rate, the seedlings are grown and trained in green house for a certain period. Thirdly, healthy seedlings are transplanted on objective sites in large scale with paper cups. Our recent projects in Yancheng and Tanggu in China's east coast are demonstrated in this paper.

Spartina green food ecological engineering can produce various ecological and economic benefits. Not only can the biomineral liquid with a number of health functions (cardiotonic, antiinflammation, enhance of immunity, lengthening of life span) be extracted from Spartina culms, but also, the total flavonoids of Spartina can be separated, which can significantly esist blood coagulation and encephalon thrombus. The grass residue can be used to culture mushrooms. The practice showed that economic benefits from this engineering are huge. During 1991-1995, the new output values were about 112 million yuan RMB and the new profits were up to 30 million yuan RMB. We plan to develop fourth level benefit from the mushroom culture residue and to exploit more benefits from the engineering.

To test whether delayed autonomous selfing occurs in Kosteletzkya virginica, stylar movements, delayed autonomous selfing, corolla dragging, controlling pollination and autogamy rate were experimentally studied. The results indicated that delayed autonomous selfing and corolla dragging occur in K. virginica. Recurvature of stylar branches lasted until the stigmas touched or abutted on the anthers at the end of the anthesis day, only if stigmas did not received pollen from an external agent. However, recurvature stopped if stigmas received pollen from an external agent. Delayed autonomous selfing was due to direct stylar movements, if stigmas touched with the anthers at the end of the anthesis day, or to the combination of corolla dragging with stylar movements if stigmas abutted on the anthers. The results of experimental hand pollinations indicated that K. virginica has a well-developed capacity for selfing, because the fruit set of natural and hand self-pollination were similar to hand cross-pollination. There were significant differences in the mean number of seeds per capsule for natural selfing, controlled selfing and controlled crossing (F2, 57=234.877, P<0.001). Field observations showed that over 4.00% of flowers undergo delayed autonomous selfing in the naturalized population of the study site, and that this was closely related to weather conditions.

Kosteletzkya virginica (L.) Presl. is a perennial dicot halophytic species, that grows in brackish portions of coastal tidal marshes of the mid-Atlantic and southeastern United States. New saline mudflats have been increasing every year in Northern Jiangsu, China. In 1993, we introduced K. virginica (L.) into China from the Halophyte Biotechnology Center (University of Delaware, USA) as a potential species to improve the soil and develop ecologically sound saline agriculture. Our nearly 10 years of experimental research, both in a test garden and in the field, indicated that K. virginica adapts excellently to the heavy saline soils of Jiangsu Province, China. The average seed yield of K. virginica in 2001 at Yancheng was 638kg/ha from 1-year old seedlings. There were significant variations among individuals from the unselected population of K. virginica on growth, quality, and seed yield traits. There is great potential to increase the seed yield if superior clones are selected. The seed yield of 35 selected individuals was six times greater than that of the average. Four growth traits of K. virginica were found to have a significant correlation with seed yield. However, there was no strong positive or negative correlation among seed quality traits. The mean seed weight and the germination ratio of the 35 selected individuals of K. virginica were 16.36

Sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides) is important environmentally and as a new commercial berry crop. Fourteen cultivars of sea buckthorn from China, Russia and Mongolia were evaluated for genetic relationships using RAPD data. Nine random primers were used to generate 114 RAPD markers by PCR. Among them, 103 (90.35%) were polymorphic. The genetic similarity ranged from 0.45 to 0.80 with a mean of 0.67. Genetic distance ranged from 0.23 to 0.80 with a mean of 0.40. Cluster analysis identified Zhongguoshaji from China (H. r. subsp. sienses) as the most genetically distinct cultivar. Hongguo (H. r. subsp. sienses), Zhongguoyou (H. r. subsp. sienses), the hybrid Liaohuerhao from China, Zeliang and Huoguang from Russia (H. r. subsp. mongolica) were clustered more distantly. The seven cultivars from Russia and Mongolia (H. r. subsp. mongolica) and the hybrid Liaohuyihao from China were grouped into two main clusters. Cluster I contained Chengsi, Liaohuyihao, Xiangyang, Chuyi andWulangemu. Cluster II consists of Nuyou, Hongyun and Aleiyi Data provide a scientific basis for selection and management of germplasm collections and crossing strategies for sea buckthorn.

Yancheng Nature Reserve in east China is of great importance to the protection of biodiversity. It is a principal refuge for Red-crowned Cranes (Grus japonensis) and many other rare species, an important station for migrant waterfowls in the Asian Pacific, and a captive breeding base for Milu (Elaphurus davidianus). However, since the late 1980s, serious losses of biodiversity have been emerging in the protected area. In this study, to value objectively and improve management of the Yancheng Nature eserve, a new approach for conservation management is proposed by virtue of the theories of selforganizing systems, functional group classification and target species selection. According to this approach, biological components in Yancheng Nature Reserve are classified into 10 supporting functional groups, eight target functional groups and 11 subordinate functional groups. Eight target species were selected from those target functional groups, i.e., G. japonensis, E. davidianus, Hydropotes inermis, Larus saundersi, Centropus toulou, Felis bengalensis, Paradoxornis heudei, and Platalea minor. Past observations in Yancheng Nature Reserve illustrate that the new approach is feasible, and this new approach will also benefit the management of the nature reserve.

This study is an emergy evaluation of Mai Po mangrove marshes. The important emergy indices of the system are as follows, the total output emergy of the marshes is 26.391017 sej: year; its macroeconomic value is 25.87105 per year (in 1988 Hong Kong); its emergy density is 6.941011 sej:m2 per year; and its investment ratio (IR), environmental loading ratio (ELR), yield ratio (YR) are 0.48, 1.03, and 3.10, respectively. The emergy of education function in Mai Po was tentative calculated as 125.651017 sej: year, its macroeconomic value is 123.19105 $ per year (in 1988 Hong Kong), in which the knowledge distribution is outstanding, about 99.261017 sej: year, the macroeconomic value is 97.31105 $: year (in 1988 Hong Kong), occupied 92% of all investments of whole education system. These data show that used emergy of per area in Mai Po is high and the management and education function of the natural reserve is good, but environmental loading is high.

Yancheng Biosphere Reserve (YBR) is located along the coastal zone of the Yellow China Sea with 900 km long in Jiangsu Province. Human activities have greatly interfered the original wetlands in YBR for migratory birds using this region as the Flyway with rapidly economic development since 1980. Much of the experimental zones and buffer zones are transferred to agriculture, aquaculture, transportation or buildings, etc. which directly results in many birds losing their habitats and becoming globally threatened, such as the Spotted Greenshank (Tringa guttifer) and the Spoon-billed Sandpiper (Eurynorhynchus pygmeus). So since 1993 some constructed wetlands have been created in the core zone of YBR in order to protect those threatened and near-threatened shorebirds. How to evaluate the sustainability of these original and constructed wetlands is a concern to managers, scientists and local stakeholders. This paper is an initial study on emergy evaluation of original wetlands and recently constructed wetlands in YBR, China. Two new emergy indices, bse emergy change (Bec) and net profit (Np), are presented in order to compare the ecological-economic benefits of these different kinds of wetlands. Results show that a waterfowl pond, constructed for ecological reasons at the edge of the core zone of YBR, has much more Bec than the original wetlands and fishponds, while its Np is negative and much lower than the other sites. Fishponds built for economic reasons in the buffer zone have negative Bec while their Np is the highest. However, the emergy yield ratio (Yr) of the original wetlands is the highest. The constructed waterfowl pond can drawmore coastal birds than before. Likewise the constructed fishponds can win large economic benefits to maintain the feedback to thewaterfowl pond. But no more fishponds should be constructed due to the highest emergy yield ratio of the original wetlands and high Bec in the waterfowl pond. Finding the best way to harmonize conservation and development in the YBR is of great importance to a sustainable future.