Hernández-Agüero Juan Antonio, Falkenhahn Mechthilde, Hetzer Jessica, Wesche Karsten, Zarfl Christiane, Tockner Klement
Senckenberg-Leibniz Institution for Biodiversity and Earth System Research, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Institute for Environmental Studies, Vrije University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
PeerJ. 2025 Feb 28;13:e18884. doi: 10.7717/peerj.18884. eCollection 2025.
Oases are azonal, highly productive, densely vegetated areas within drylands, often converted to agriculture, and characterized by significant biocultural diversity. Despite their importance, comprehensive information on the global distribution and biocultural diversity of oases has been lacking.
To address this gap, a detailed bibliographic search and random forest modeling were combined to create a global map of oases, with a focus on Asia and North Africa (ANA).
In the ANA region, oases cover 1.5% of the dryland area and are populated by 150 million people, with an additional 268 million people living nearby and most likely being dependent on them. Globally, oases contain more than 8,200 vertebrate species, of which 13% are classified as threatened. However, less than 0.5% of their total area is currently under protection, making oases one of the least conserved ecosystems worldwide. These findings highlight the distinct biocultural, ecological, and geopolitical importance of oases, which are increasingly threatened by climate change and direct human impacts. Despite their significance, oases remain undervalued, emphasizing an urgent need for developing adaptative strategies to sustainably manage these pivotal ecosystems.
绿洲是干旱地区内非地带性、高产且植被茂密的区域，常被用于农业，具有显著的生物文化多样性。尽管绿洲很重要，但一直缺乏关于其全球分布及生物文化多样性的全面信息。
为填补这一空白，我们结合了详细的文献检索和随机森林建模来创建一份全球绿洲地图，重点关注亚洲和北非（ANA）地区。
在ANA地区，绿洲覆盖了1.5%的干旱地区，有1.5亿人口居住，另有2.68亿人生活在附近且很可能依赖于绿洲。在全球范围内，绿洲包含8200多种脊椎动物，其中13%被列为受威胁物种。然而，目前其总面积中不到0.5%受到保护，这使得绿洲成为全球保护程度最低的生态系统之一。这些发现凸显了绿洲独特的生物文化、生态和地缘政治重要性，而它们正日益受到气候变化和人类直接影响的威胁。尽管绿洲意义重大，但仍未得到重视，这强调了迫切需要制定适应性策略来可持续地管理这些关键生态系统。
