Spatial Insights into Mangrove Ecosystem Services in Perak, Malaysia: A Preliminary Assessment Using Satellite Imagery
Muhammad Akmal Roslani 1*, Mohd Hasmadi Ismail 2 and Norizah Kamaruddin 3

1,2,3 Department of Forestry Science and Biodiversity, Faculty of Forestry and Environment, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.
1 Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Perlis Branch, Arau Campus, 02600 Arau, Perlis, Malaysia.
3 Institute of Tropical Forestry and Forest Products, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400, UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia.

Abstract

Mangrove ecosystems are critical to coastal resilience, biodiversity conservation, and human livelihoods. They provide a range of ecosystem services (ES), such as flood protection, carbon storage, nutrient cycling, and support for fisheries. However, assessing and mapping these services on a broad landscape scale remains challenging, particularly in regions with limited data availability. This study presents a preliminary assessment of the potential supply of mangrove ecosystem services in Tanjung Burung and Matang, Perak, Malaysia. Using SPOT satellite imagery and a Land Use Land Cover (LULC) matrix approach, we classified mangrove areas and analysed their spatial contribution to key ES categories. Expert surveys were conducted to gather both qualitative insights and quantitative estimations of ES supply, covering regulating, supporting, cultural, and provisioning services. The preliminary analysis revealed that regulating and maintenance (supporting) services were the most dominant, followed by moderate levels of provisioning services and average levels of cultural services. A spatial visualisation of these services was generated, offering a clearer understanding of their distribution and intensity across the landscape. The result highlights the value of remote sensing as a scalable tool for ES assessment, especially in data-scarce contexts.

Keywords: Mangrove Ecosystem Services, Ecosystem Service Mapping, SPOT Imagery, Land Use Land Cover Matrix, Sustainable Mangrove Management.

Topic: Topic B: Applications of Remote Sensing