National scale biodiversity conservation priorities based on integrated multiple vulnerability features in China
To meet the ambitious goals of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, China’s spatial implementation plan, which will delineate which areas will be protected, requires clarity at the national level. Prioritizing biodiversity alone, especially when a single species' richness is emphasized,...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Ecological Indicators |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X24003716 |
| _version_ | 1797213392089382912 |
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| author | Zhibo Du Longqin Li Jiaan Liang Binyue Kang Weiqing Meng Hongyuan Li |
| author_facet | Zhibo Du Longqin Li Jiaan Liang Binyue Kang Weiqing Meng Hongyuan Li |
| author_sort | Zhibo Du |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | To meet the ambitious goals of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, China’s spatial implementation plan, which will delineate which areas will be protected, requires clarity at the national level. Prioritizing biodiversity alone, especially when a single species' richness is emphasized, may lead to inadequate conservation strategies, thus making it challenging to meet the requirements of collaborative governance. Here, we provide a spatial conservation prioritization method integrating species, carbon, climate, and anthropogenic vulnerability features. As such, we identified land to prioritize in conservation efforts by constructing different conservation scenarios with different combinations of vulnerability features using Chinese terrestrial ecosystems as an example. We also analyzed the differences in the benefits of different conservation scenarios. The results showed spatial variability in the distribution of land prioritized by the various protection scenarios. The conservation scenario that combined all features best harmonized the benefits and thus avoided an imbalance in conservation caused by an undue focus on one feature. The scenarios covered 73.54% of biodiversity hotspots, 63.17% of vulnerable carbon hotspots, and 80.21% of climate hotspots. We also found that forests had a strong presence in the various configurations of prioritized land, and usually exceeded 50% of the prioritized area. Secondly, cropland accounted for a prominent proportion of prioritized land at approximately 29.72%, and ranked second only to forests. In addition, when accounting for carbon vulnerability as well, the proportion of grasslands in the prioritized land increased by about 3.35 times. This study offers valuable and citable information that may be used to support biodiversity conservation initiatives in China. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T10:57:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8a744a3c64e542cb8ac9580dbf877de9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1470-160X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T10:57:33Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecological Indicators |
| spelling | doaj.art-8a744a3c64e542cb8ac9580dbf877de92024-04-12T04:44:55ZengElsevierEcological Indicators1470-160X2024-03-01160111914National scale biodiversity conservation priorities based on integrated multiple vulnerability features in ChinaZhibo Du0Longqin Li1Jiaan Liang2Binyue Kang3Weiqing Meng4Hongyuan Li5College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, ChinaCollege of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, ChinaCollege of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, ChinaCollege of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, ChinaSchool of Geographic and Environmental Science, Tianjin Normal University, Tianjin 300387, ChinaCollege of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300350, China; Corresponding author.To meet the ambitious goals of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework, China’s spatial implementation plan, which will delineate which areas will be protected, requires clarity at the national level. Prioritizing biodiversity alone, especially when a single species' richness is emphasized, may lead to inadequate conservation strategies, thus making it challenging to meet the requirements of collaborative governance. Here, we provide a spatial conservation prioritization method integrating species, carbon, climate, and anthropogenic vulnerability features. As such, we identified land to prioritize in conservation efforts by constructing different conservation scenarios with different combinations of vulnerability features using Chinese terrestrial ecosystems as an example. We also analyzed the differences in the benefits of different conservation scenarios. The results showed spatial variability in the distribution of land prioritized by the various protection scenarios. The conservation scenario that combined all features best harmonized the benefits and thus avoided an imbalance in conservation caused by an undue focus on one feature. The scenarios covered 73.54% of biodiversity hotspots, 63.17% of vulnerable carbon hotspots, and 80.21% of climate hotspots. We also found that forests had a strong presence in the various configurations of prioritized land, and usually exceeded 50% of the prioritized area. Secondly, cropland accounted for a prominent proportion of prioritized land at approximately 29.72%, and ranked second only to forests. In addition, when accounting for carbon vulnerability as well, the proportion of grasslands in the prioritized land increased by about 3.35 times. This study offers valuable and citable information that may be used to support biodiversity conservation initiatives in China.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X24003716Biodiversity conservationClimate changeCollaborative governanceVulnerability characterizationSpatial conservation prioritization framework |
| spellingShingle | Zhibo Du Longqin Li Jiaan Liang Binyue Kang Weiqing Meng Hongyuan Li National scale biodiversity conservation priorities based on integrated multiple vulnerability features in China Ecological Indicators Biodiversity conservation Climate change Collaborative governance Vulnerability characterization Spatial conservation prioritization framework |
| title | National scale biodiversity conservation priorities based on integrated multiple vulnerability features in China |
| title_full | National scale biodiversity conservation priorities based on integrated multiple vulnerability features in China |
| title_fullStr | National scale biodiversity conservation priorities based on integrated multiple vulnerability features in China |
| title_full_unstemmed | National scale biodiversity conservation priorities based on integrated multiple vulnerability features in China |
| title_short | National scale biodiversity conservation priorities based on integrated multiple vulnerability features in China |
| title_sort | national scale biodiversity conservation priorities based on integrated multiple vulnerability features in china |
| topic | Biodiversity conservation Climate change Collaborative governance Vulnerability characterization Spatial conservation prioritization framework |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X24003716 |
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