Monitoring Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Spartina alterniflora–Phragmites australis Mixed Ecotone in Chongming Dongtan Wetland Integrated with Three-Dimensional Feature Space and Multi-Threshold Otsu Segmentation

The Chongming Dongtan wetland, a representative coastal wetland in East Asia, is subject to a significant ecological threat from the invasive species Spartina alterniflora. The mixed ecotone formed between this invasive species and the native Phragmites australis serves as a highly sensitive and critical indicator of alterations in wetland ecosystem structure and function. Using spring and autumn Sentinel-2 imagery from 2016 to 2023, this study developed a method that integrates a three-dimensional feature space with multi-threshold Otsu segmentation to accurately extract the mixed S. alterniflora–P. australis ecotone. The spatiotemporal dynamics of the mixed ecotone were analyzed at multiple temporal scales using a centroid migration model and the Seasonal Area Ratio (SAR) index. The results suggest that: (1) Near-infrared reflectance and NDVI were identified as the optimal spectral indices for spring and autumn, respectively, which led to a classification achieving an overall accuracy of 87.3±1.4% and a Kappa coefficient of 0.84±0.02. Notably, the mixed ecotone was mapped with producer’s and user’s accuracies of 85.2% and 83.6%. (2) The vegetation followed a distinct land-to-sea ecological sequence of “pure P. australis–mixed ecotone–pure S. alterniflora”, predominantly distributed as an east–west trending belt. This pattern was fragmented by tidal creeks and micro-topography in the northwest, contrasting with geometrically regular linear anomalies in the central area, indicative of human engineering. (3) The ecotone saw continuous seaward expansion throughout the 2016–2023 period. Spring exhibited a consistent annual area growth of 13.93% and a stable seaward centroid migration, whereas autumn exhibited significant intra-annual fluctuations in both area and centroid due to extreme climate events. (4) The SAR index uncovered a fundamental transition in the seasonal competition pattern in 2017, initiating a seven-year spring-dominant phase after a single year of autumn dominance. This spring-dominated era exhibited a distinctive sawtooth fluctuation pattern, indicative of competitive dynamics arising from the phenological advancement of P. australis combined with the niche penetration of S. alterniflora. This study elucidates the multi-scale competition and succession mechanisms between S. alterniflora and P. australis, thus providing a scientific underpinning for effective invasive species control and ecological restoration in coastal wetlands.