Loss of habitat leads to loss of birds: reflections on the Jiangsu, China, coastal development plans

Piersma, Theunis; Chan, Ying‐Chi; Mu, Tong; Hassell, Chris J.; Melville, David S.; He, Peng; Ma, Zhijun; Zhang, Zhengwang; Wilcove, David S.

doi:10.18194/ws.00077

Cited by 31 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Coastal wetlands in the Yellow Sea suffered the most serious loss: More than half of the coastal wetlands have been lost over the past 50 years (Murray and Fuller 2015). Many studies have indicated that dramatic loss of wetland habitats in the Yellow Sea is the major cause for the rapid population decline of migratory shorebirds along the East Asian-Australasian flyway, which rely on the Yellow Sea coasts as critial stopover habitats Piersma et al 2017;Studds et al 2017). Human disturbance is another major threat to waterbirds in China, affecting 73.7% of the threatened species (27 of 38, Table 4).…”

Section: Threats To Waterbirdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population trends, threats, and conservation recommendations for waterbirds in China

et al. 2018

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Background: China is one of the countries with abundant waterbird diversity. Over the past decades, China's waterbirds have suffered increasing threats from direct and indirect human activities. It is important to clarify the population trends of and threats to waterbirds as well as to put forward conservation recommendations. Methods:We collected data of population trends of a total of 260 waterbird species in China from Wetlands International database. We calculated the number of species with increasing, declining, stable, and unknown trends. We collected threatened levels of waterbirds from the Red List of China' s Vertebrates (2016), which was compiled according to the IUCN criteria of threatened species. Based on literature review, we refined the major threats to the threatened waterbird species in China.Results: Of the total 260 waterbird species in China, 84 species (32.3%) exhibited declining, 35 species (13.5%) kept stable, and 16 species (6.2%) showed increasing trends. Population trends were unknown for 125 species (48.1%). There was no significant difference in population trends between the migratory (32.4% decline) and resident (31.8% decline) species or among waterbirds distributed exclusively along coasts (28.6% decline), inland (36.6% decline), and both coasts and inland (32.5% decline). A total of 38 species (15.1% of the total) were listed as threatened species and 27 species (10.8% of the total) Near Threatened species. Habitat loss was the major threat to waterbirds, with 32 of the total 38 (84.2%) threatened species being affected. In addition, 73.7% (28 species), 71.1% (27 species), and 57.9% (22 species) of the threatened species were affected by human disturbance, environmental pollution, and illegal hunting, respectively. Conclusions:We propose recommendations for waterbird conservation, including (1) strengthening conservation of nature wetlands and restoration of degraded wetlands, (2) enhancing public awareness on waterbird conservation, (3) improving the enforcement of Wildlife Protection Law and cracking down on illegal hunting, (4) carrying out longterm waterbird surveys to clarify population dynamics, (5) restoring populations of highly-threatened species through artificial intervention, and (6) promoting international and regional exchanges and cooperation to share information in waterbirds and their conservation.

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Section: Threats To Waterbirdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population trends, threats, and conservation recommendations for waterbirds in China

et al. 2018

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“…Yet, these areas are threatened by industrial‐scale reclamation, especially on the Jiangsu Coast (Piersma et al. ). By the 2010s, over 65% of the 1.1 million ha of tidal flats present in the 1950s had been lost (Murray et al.…”

Section: Threats To Migratory Birdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Besides waterbirds, the EAAF is used by many species of migratory landbirds, including by more migratory species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List than any other flyway (15 songbirds, 1 bustard, and 4 birds of prey) (Yong et al 2015 areas used by most EAAF shorebird populations (Barter 2002;MacKinnon et al 2012). Yet, these areas are threatened by industrial-scale reclamation, especially on the Jiangsu Coast (Piersma et al 2017). By the 2010s, over 65% of the 1.1 million ha of tidal flats present in the 1950s had been lost (Murray et al 2014), and many shorebird taxa reliant on the Yellow Sea are estimated to have declined an average of 5.2% annually (Studds et al 2017).…”

Section: Threats To Migratory Birdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges and opportunities for transboundary conservation of migratory birds in the East Asian‐Australasian flyway

Yong

Jain²,

Liu

et al. 2018

Conservation Biology

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“…Changes in the abundance of common species have profound ecosystem consequences (Gaston & Fuller, 2008), and the reduction in biomass and other ecosystem services caused by land claim projects in China could cost up to US$ 177 billion per year (Chen & Zhang, 2000). In addition, loss of Yellow Sea tidal flat habitat is the most likely explanation for the drastic declines of migratory shorebird populations within the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, which are most pronounced for species using the Yellow Sea as a refuelling site (Amano, Szekely, Koyama, Amano, & Sutherland, 2010;Murray et al, 2017;Piersma et al, 2016Piersma et al, , 2017Studds et al, 2017). This ecosystem has been classified as Endangered, using International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Ecosystems criteria due to widespread loss of habitat, pollution, algal and jellyfish blooms, hypoxic dead zones, and documented declines in fauna (Murray et al, 2015).…”

Section: Ecological Consequences Of Tidal Flat Loss and Seawall Conmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biodiversity and China's new Great Wall

Choi

Jackson

Gallo-Cajiao

et al. 2017

Diversity and Distributions

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Coastal armouring and the reclamation of intertidal areas through the use of seawalls and other artificial structures has been practiced for thousands of years, but its recent expansion in China and elsewhere in Asia has been unprecedented in its rate and intensity. One result has been the recent loss of nearly two-thirds of tidal flats in the Yellow Sea, a globally unique ecosystem of high ecological value. The severe effects on biodiversity of the recent large-scale coastal land claim activities in China are well documented, yet some recent studies have emphasized the ecological opportunities provided by such artificial coastal infrastructure in China, in some cases suggesting that the ecological impacts of coastal infrastructure should be reconsidered due to benefits to some rocky shore species in a changing climate. This is cause for concern because, while studying the "new ecology" arising from coastal modification is useful, broad conclusions around the ecological role or conservation gains from seawall construction without adequate contextualization underplays the ecological consequences of large-scale coastal land claim, and could potentially undermine efforts to achieve biodiversity conservation. Here, we clarify the characteristics of seawall construction in China and summarize the environmental damage and some broadscale impacts caused by this type of infrastructure expansion on the endangered Yellow Sea tidal flats ecosystem. We also highlight the urgent need for all coastal development plans to consider how coastal wetlands and ecosystem functionality can be maximally retained within the development precinct. K E Y W O R D Sartificial infrastructure, ecosystem function, mudflat, reclamation, wetland

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Loss of habitat leads to loss of birds: reflections on the Jiangsu, China, coastal development plans

Cited by 31 publications

References 26 publications

Population trends, threats, and conservation recommendations for waterbirds in China

Population trends, threats, and conservation recommendations for waterbirds in China

Challenges and opportunities for transboundary conservation of migratory birds in the East Asian‐Australasian flyway

Biodiversity and China's new Great Wall

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