MARE - Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre & FCUL - Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, 1749-016, Lisboa, Portugal.
Sci Rep. 2017 Aug 9;7(1):7702. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-06633-x.
Estuaries are threatened by intense and continuously increasing human activities. Here we estimated the sensitivity of fish assemblages in a set of estuaries distributed worldwide (based on species vulnerability and resilience), and the exposure to cumulative stressors and coverage by protected areas in and around those estuaries (from marine, estuarine and freshwater ecosystems, due to their connectivity). Vulnerability and resilience of estuarine fish assemblages were not evenly distributed globally and were driven by environmental features. Exposure to pressures and extent of protection were also not evenly distributed worldwide. Assemblages with more vulnerable and less resilient species were associated with estuaries in higher latitudes (in particular Europe), and with higher connectivity with the marine ecosystem, moreover such estuaries were generally under high intensity of pressures but with no concomitant increase in protection. Current conservation schemes pay little attention to species traits, despite their role in maintaining ecosystem functioning and stability. Results emphasize that conservation is weakly related with the global distribution of sensitive fish species in sampled estuaries, and this shortcoming is aggravated by their association with highly pressured locations, which appeals for changes in the global conservation strategy (namely towards estuaries in temperate regions and highly connected with marine ecosystems).
河口受到人类高强度且持续增加的活动的威胁。在这里，我们根据物种脆弱性和恢复力评估了全球一系列河口鱼类群落的敏感性，并评估了这些河口及其周围地区（由于其连通性，包括海洋、河口和淡水生态系统）所承受的累积胁迫和保护区覆盖范围。河口鱼类群落的脆弱性和恢复力在全球的分布并不均匀，受到环境特征的驱动。压力的暴露程度和保护范围也在全球范围内分布不均。具有更脆弱和恢复力较低的物种的组合与高纬度地区（特别是欧洲）的河口有关，并且与海洋生态系统的连通性更高，此外，这些河口通常受到高强度的压力，但保护程度没有相应增加。目前的保护计划很少关注物种特征，尽管它们在维持生态系统功能和稳定性方面发挥着重要作用。研究结果强调，保护与受调查河口敏感鱼类物种的全球分布相关性较弱，而且由于它们与高压力地区的关联，这一缺点更加严重，这呼吁改变全球保护策略（即转向温带地区和与海洋生态系统高度连接的河口）。
