In this study, GIS was employed to analyze and assess waterbird
habitat suitability in the West Songnen Plain. The assessment
units were extracted from Landsat TM images acquired in 2010 and
were derived by the object-oriented segmentation approach. By
analyzing relationships between waterbirds with key habitat environmental
factors, we selected such indices as disturbance degree,
water situation, food abundance and shelter condition as affecting
factors for waterbird habitats. The weight for each factor was
assigned by the analytic hierarchy process approach. In this way,
an assessment matrix of waterbirds and the key habitat factors
and the index of habitat suitability for waterbirds could be established.
Based on the establishment of a geo-referenced database,
the assessment of habitat suitability could be performed using GIS
spatial analysis.