Coastal Ecology Lab, MOE Key Laboratory of Biodiversity Science and Ecological Engineering, National Observations and Research Station for Wetland Ecosystems of the Yangtze Estuary (Shanghai), School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, 2005 Songhu Road, Shanghai 200438, China.
Marine Science Institute, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93101, USA.
Sci Adv. 2023 Aug 9;9(32):eadg3800. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adg3800.
To fulfill sustainable development goals, many countries are expanding efforts to conserve ecologically and societally critical coastal ecosystems. Although megafauna profoundly affect the functioning of ecosystems, they are neglected as a key component in the conservation scheme for coastal ecosystems in many geographic contexts. We reveal a rich diversity of extant megafauna associated with all major types of coastal ecosystems in China, including 218 species of mammals, birds, reptiles, cephalopods, and fish across terrestrial and marine environments. However, 44% of these species are globally threatened, and 78% have not yet been assessed in China for extinction risk. More worrisome, 73% of these megafauna have not been designated as nationally protected species, and <10% of their most important habitats are protected. Filling this wide "megafauna gap" in China and globally would be a leading step as humanity strives to thrive with coastal ecosystems.
为了实现可持续发展目标，许多国家正在加大力度保护具有生态和社会重要性的沿海生态系统。尽管巨型动物对生态系统的功能有深远的影响，但在许多地理背景下，它们作为沿海生态系统保护计划的一个关键组成部分被忽视了。我们揭示了中国所有主要类型沿海生态系统中与巨型动物相关的丰富多样性，包括陆地和海洋环境中的 218 种哺乳动物、鸟类、爬行动物、头足类动物和鱼类。然而，这些物种中有 44%在全球受到威胁，其中 78%在中国尚未评估其灭绝风险。更令人担忧的是，其中 73%的巨型动物尚未被指定为国家保护物种，而它们最重要的栖息地中只有不到 10%得到了保护。填补中国和全球范围内的这个巨大的“巨型动物缺口”将是人类努力与沿海生态系统共存的一个重要步骤。
