Liang Dan, Mu Tong, Yang Ziyou, Wang Yudi, Li Jing, Huang Minghai, Liu Yuelou, Song Luting, Cai Shangxiao, Zhang Xuelian, Wang Yixiao, Liao Zhikai, Fan Shixiang, Noon Barry R, Giam Xingli, Liu Yang, Wilcove David S
Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol, School of Ecology, Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China.
Nat Ecol Evol. 2025 Sep 9. doi: 10.1038/s41559-025-02848-8.
The decline of migratory shorebirds in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway has attracted global attention. Conservation efforts thus far have targeted habitat loss and degradation in the Yellow Sea region, with little attention having been given to direct mortality by humans. Here we studied the impacts of direct mortality of shorebirds along China's coast during migration from hunting, fishery bycatch and, at aquaculture sites, bird deterrence measures. We estimated that approximately 47,870 shorebirds were killed at 19 stopover sites per year, mainly from hunting and deterrence. Mortalities for 11 shorebird species account for 1% to 10% of their known total flyway populations. Conservative annual direct mortality rates for four species exceeded sustainable levels, with nine other species approaching unsustainable levels. Direct mortality due to humans is clearly a major overlooked threat to migratory shorebird populations along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway. Reducing it is essential to conserving these declining species.
东亚-澳大利西亚迁徙路线上的迁徙滨鸟数量减少已引起全球关注。迄今为止，保护工作主要针对黄海地区的栖息地丧失和退化问题，而很少关注人类造成的直接死亡。在此，我们研究了滨鸟在迁徙期间沿中国海岸因捕猎、渔业误捕以及在水产养殖场所采取的驱鸟措施而导致的直接死亡影响。我们估计，每年在19个中途停歇地约有47870只滨鸟死亡，主要原因是捕猎和驱鸟。11种滨鸟的死亡数量占其已知整个迁徙路线种群总数的1%至10%。四种滨鸟的保守年度直接死亡率超过了可持续水平，另外九种也接近不可持续水平。人类造成的直接死亡显然是东亚-澳大利西亚迁徙路线上迁徙滨鸟种群面临的一个被严重忽视的主要威胁。减少这种威胁对于保护这些数量不断减少的物种至关重要。
