Choi Chi-Yeung, Xiao Hui, Jia Mingming, Jackson Micha V, Lai Yi-Chien, Murray Nicholas J, Gibson Luke, Fuller Richard A
School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China.
School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld, 4072, Australia.
Conserv Biol. 2022 Feb 24;36(5). doi: 10.1111/cobi.13905.
Coastal wetlands around the world have been degraded by human activities. Global declines in the extent of important habitats including mangroves, salt marsh and tidal flats necessitate mitigation and restoration efforts, however some well-meaning management actions, particularly mangrove afforestation and breakwater construction, can inadvertently cause further loss and degradation if these actions are not planned carefully. In particular, there is a potential conflict between mangrove and shorebird conservation, because mangrove afforestation and restoration may occur at the expense of bare tidal flats, which form the main foraging habitats for threatened coastal migratory shorebirds as well as supporting other coastal organisms. Here, we present several case studies that illustrate the trade-off between mangroves and bare tidal flats. To investigate whether these examples reflect an emerging broad-scale issue, we use satellite imagery to develop a detailed quantification of the change in mangrove habitat extent in 22 important shorebird areas in mainland China between 2000 and 2015. Our results indicate that 1) the extent of mangroves across all sites expanded significantly between 2000 and 2015 (p < 0.01, n = 14) while tidal flat extent in the same areas declined significantly within the same period (p < 0.01, n = 21); 2) among the 14 sites where mangroves were present, the dual threat of mangrove expansion and tidal flat loss have considerably reduced shorebird habitat in eight of these sites. To ensure effective conservation of both mangroves and shorebirds, we propose a decision tree framework for resolving this emerging dilemma between mangrove afforestation and shorebird protection, which requires careful consideration of alternative management strategies. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
世界各地的沿海湿地因人类活动而退化。包括红树林、盐沼和潮滩在内的重要栖息地在全球范围内面积减少，这使得缓解和恢复工作成为必要。然而，如果一些善意的管理行动，特别是红树林造林和防波堤建设，没有经过精心规划，可能会无意中导致进一步的损失和退化。特别是，红树林保护和滨鸟保护之间存在潜在冲突，因为红树林造林和恢复可能以裸露的潮滩为代价，而裸露的潮滩是受威胁的沿海迁徙滨鸟的主要觅食栖息地，同时也为其他沿海生物提供支持。在此，我们展示了几个案例研究，以说明红树林和裸露潮滩之间的权衡。为了调查这些例子是否反映了一个新出现的广泛问题，我们利用卫星图像对2000年至2015年间中国大陆22个重要滨鸟栖息地的红树林栖息地面积变化进行了详细量化。我们的结果表明：1）2000年至2015年间，所有地点的红树林面积均显著扩大（p < 0.01，n = 14），而同期同一地区的潮滩面积则显著减少（p < 0.01，n = 21）；2）在有红树林的14个地点中，红树林扩张和潮滩损失的双重威胁使其中8个地点的滨鸟栖息地大幅减少。为了确保红树林和滨鸟都得到有效保护，我们提出了一个决策树框架，以解决红树林造林和滨鸟保护之间这个新出现的困境，这需要仔细考虑替代管理策略。本文受版权保护。保留所有权利
