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Conservation planning following reclamation of intertidal areas throughout the Yellow and Bohai Seas, China

Biodiversity and Conservation volume 28, pages 3787–3801 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

Tidal flats throughout the Yellow and Bohai Seas provide essential habitat for migrating shorebirds along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. Land reclamation threatens this habitat. Using bird-sighting data and environmental variables, we identify areas appropriate for prioritized protection for 46 shorebird species, using a MaxEnt species distribution model and Zonation protection planning software. We also assess changes in habitat status and conservation importance of tidal flats along the Rudong and Dongtai coasts, Jiangsu Province, a significant shorebird biodiversity area recently inscribed as a World Heritage site. A priority area of 4523 km2, containing more saltpan and aquaculture areas than tidal flats, and more than 90% of all tidal flat areas in the priority area, is identified, of which only 12.05% is currently protected within existing National Nature Reserves. Tidal flats along the Rudong and Dongtai coasts have decreased in area from 2000 to 2015, and particularly from 2010 to 2015 at a rate nine times that for 2000–2010. An irreplaceability index for coastal habitat for Xiaoyangkou, Rudong county, increased from 2012 to 2015, signaling a need for urgent habitat management and protection, such as afforded by establishing new nature reserves. Effective management and restoration of saltpan and aquaculture habitat in Bohai and Laizhou bays is also necessary.

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Data availability

Data used in this manuscript are shared from “Bird Report (http://birdreport.cn/bird/).” Detail data information should contact to Xiubo Yu (yuxb@igsnrr.ac.cn).

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Acknowledgements

This research was jointly supported by Earth big data Scientific Engineering project of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDA19020305), Science and Technology Service Network Initiative (STS) Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No: KFJ-STS-ZDTP-023), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41701212), and Developing China’s Coastal WaterBirds and Habitats Database Project which is funded by The Paulson Institute and The Lao Niu Foundation.We thank the Bird Watching Network website and the China Coastal Waterbird Census Team for providing data collection support.

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Author notes

  1. Houlang Duan and Shaoxia Xia have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Ecosystem Network Observation and Modeling, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Houlang Duan, Shaoxia Xia, Yu Liu & Xiubo Yu

  2. College of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Houlang Duan & Xiubo Yu

  3. Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, 264003, China

    Xiyong Hou

Authors
  1. Houlang Duan
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  2. Shaoxia Xia
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  3. Xiyong Hou
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  4. Yu Liu
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  5. Xiubo Yu
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Contributions

XY planned and designed the research; HD, SX, XH and Y L collected data; HD analyzed data and wrote the manuscript; XY and SX revised the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Xiubo Yu.

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Communicated by Anurag chaurasia.

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Duan, H., Xia, S., Hou, X. et al. Conservation planning following reclamation of intertidal areas throughout the Yellow and Bohai Seas, China. Biodivers Conserv 28, 3787–3801 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01851-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01851-3

Keywords

  • Shorebirds
  • Migration
  • Conservation
  • China
  • MaxEnt
  • Zonation

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