Ecosystem service valuation and management zoning of island evaluation units in the Miaodao Archipelago, Yellow-Bohai Sea

Introduction The 2024 adjustment of China’s marine ecological protection redlines increased the policy importance of small island systems and created a need for quantitative tools that link ecosystem service value (ESV) assessment with island-scale management zoning. This study evaluated 26 island evaluation units in the Miaodao Archipelago, a key area of Changdao National Park in the Yellow-Bohai Sea. Methods A modified equivalent factor method was used to monetize 11 ecosystem services at a 30 m grid scale. Island-specific adaptations included localizing the one-seventh rule, adjusting forest and grassland coefficients to reflect island productivity constraints, and setting food and raw-material services to zero where active farming was not represented in the land-cover data. Spatial sensitivity indicators were used as complementary references for zoning. Results The total ESV in 2020 was CNY 114.5468 million yr −1 , with a mean unit-area value of 20,194 CNY ha −1 yr −1 . Regulating and supporting services jointly accounted for 90.15% of the total. Discussion Coupling ESV with ecological sensitivity produced four management-oriented functional classes, providing quantitative support for Changdao National Park zoning and marine ecological redline implementation.