Protect coastal wetlands in China to save endangered migratory birds

Yang, Hong; Ma, Mingguo; Thompson, J. R.; Flower, Roger J.

doi:10.1073/pnas.1706111114

Cited by 67 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Based on the analysis above, we agreed with Yang et al (1) in their perspective. The protected area network is not sufficient for coastal wetland conservation.…”

supporting

confidence: 89%

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Reply to Yang et al.: Coastal wetlands are not well represented by protected areas for endangered birds

Xu¹,

Xiao²,

Zhang³

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…Based on the analysis above, we agreed with Yang et al (1) in their perspective. The protected area network is not sufficient for coastal wetland conservation.…”

supporting

confidence: 89%

“…We thank Yang et al (1) for their perspective. We are aware of the importance of coastal wetland protection for endangered migratory birds.…”

mentioning

confidence: 95%

Reply to Yang et al.: Coastal wetlands are not well represented by protected areas for endangered birds

Xu¹,

Xiao²,

Zhang³

et al. 2017

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…All these river deltas are dominated by alluvial plains and are characterized by different areas and growth rates of coastal wetlands. The deltas contain a significant proportion of the world's most important and unique natural coastal wetlands, which support extensive globally important biodiversity and provide ecosystem services such as blue carbon storage, water purification, and ecosystem‐based coastal defense (Yang, Ma, Thompson, & Flower, ). In the past three decades, however, these coastal wetlands and their biodiversity have been under constant threat of loss and degradation, mostly due to socioeconomic development (Ma et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tracking three decades of land use and land cover transformation trajectories in China's large river deltas

Bai

et al. 2019

Land Degrad Dev

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Large river deltas are characterized by complicated land use/land cover (LULC) dynamics driven by intertwined natural and anthropogenic processes. Understanding spatiotemporal LULC dynamics associated with multiple drivers can help mitigate the adverse ecological impacts resulting from human activities. This research tracked spatiotemporal LULC trajectories in relation to multiple natural and anthropogenic driving processes and explored their correlations within four large river deltas (the Liaohe River Delta [LRD], Yellow River Delta [YRD], Yangtze River Delta [YtRD], and Pearl River Delta [PRD]) in China from 1980 to 2010. The results showed that the coastal wetlands had undergone transformations with 39% in LRD, 85.1% in YRD, 96.5% in YtRD, and 100% in PRD, respectively. The LULC transformations were linked with six major driving processes (accretion, erosion, reclamation, restoration, succession, and regressive succession) and were impacted by complex coupled effects between natural and anthropogenic drivers. Reclamation‐related LULC transformation types dominated in the four river deltas and had greater spatiotemporal interactions than the other driving processes. Reclamation and restoration as well as accretion and erosion showed high positive correlations in all four river deltas, but other pairwise correlations of driving processes presented regional variations. This study presents an overview of the patterns and processes of complex multitemporal LULC dynamics and can be replicated elsewhere in areas where land reclamation activities are entangled with natural processes. A ‘scrolling’ development pattern with reasonable magnitudes of land reclamation for the river deltas is proposed as a spatial strategy to minimize the adverse ecological impacts of human activity.

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“…Millions of birds undertake annual long-distance seasonal migrations along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway (EAAF), which stretches for over 13,000 km from the Arctic Circle to Australia and New Zealand [1]. The ecological functionality of this migration corridor depends on a network of coastal wetlands that represent steppingstones used by the birds as staging areas and over-wintering sites [2,3]. Over the past several decades many of the wetlands along the EAAF have been converted for development, from agriculture and aquaculture to coastal infrastructure [4][5][6][7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A climate adaptation strategy for Mai Po Inner Deep Bay Ramsar site: Steppingstone to climate proofing the East Asian-Australasian Flyway

Wikramanayake¹,

Or²,

Costa

et al. 2020

PLoS ONE

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The ecological functionality of the East Asian-Australasian Flyway is threatened by the loss of wetlands which provide staging and wintering sites for migrating waterbirds. The disappearance of wetland ecosystems due to coastal development prevents birds from completing their migrations, resulting in population declines, and even an eventual collapse of the migration phenomenon. Coastal wetlands are also under threat from global climate change and its consequences, notably sea level rise (SLR), extreme storm events, and accompanying wave and tidal surges. The impacts of SLR are compounded by coastal subsidence and decreasing sedimentation, which can result from coastal development. Thus, important wetlands along the flyway should be assessed for the impacts of climate change and coastal subsidence to plan and implement proactive climate adaptation strategies that include habitat migration and possibility of coastal squeeze. We modelled the impacts of climate change and decreasing sedimentation rates on important bird habitats in the Mai Po Inner Deep Bay Ramsar site to support a climate adaptation strategy that will continue to host migratory birds. Located in the Inner Deep Bay of the Pearl River estuary, Mai Po's tidal flats, coastal mangroves, marshes, and fishponds provide habitat for over 80,000 wintering and passage waterbirds. We applied the Sea Level Affecting Marshes Model (SLAMM) to simulate habitat conversion under two SLR scenarios (1.5m and 2.0m) for 2050, 2075, and 2100 for four accretion rates (2mm/yr, 4 mm/yr, 8 mm/yr, 15 mm/yr). The results showed no discernible impact to habitats until after 2075, but projections for 2100 show that the mangroves, marshes and tidal flats could be impacted in almost all scenarios of SLR and accretion. Under a 1.5m SLR scenario, even at low tide, if accretion levels decrease to 4 mm/yr, the tidal flats will be inundated and with a 2 mm/yr accretion the mangroves will also be inundated. Thus, important shorebird habitats will be lost. During high tide the ponds inside the nature reserve, which are intensively managed to provide high tide roosting sites and other habitats for waterbirds, will also be inundated. Thus, with a 1.5m SLR and declining sedimentation the migratory shorebirds will lose habitat, including the high tide roosting habitats inside the nature reserve. The model also indicates that the fishponds further inland in the

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Protect coastal wetlands in China to save endangered migratory birds

Cited by 67 publications

References 10 publications

Reply to Yang et al.: Coastal wetlands are not well represented by protected areas for endangered birds

Reply to Yang et al.: Coastal wetlands are not well represented by protected areas for endangered birds

Tracking three decades of land use and land cover transformation trajectories in China's large river deltas

A climate adaptation strategy for Mai Po Inner Deep Bay Ramsar site: Steppingstone to climate proofing the East Asian-Australasian Flyway

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