Use of historical and contemporary distribution of mammals in China to inform conservation

Abstract

Article impact statement: Historical and contemporary patterns of extinction can be a basis for mammalian conservation strategies.

Regional fauna-flora biodiversity and conservation strategy in China

“…However, its eastern part, primary southern Shaanxi and Gansu, and east Qinghai, linking with the Qinling and the Southwest, is quite different from the west, forming one of China’s biodiversity hotspots. The southeastern Qinghai and eastern Tibet of the region, where the upper reaches of the four major Asia’s rivers – Salween, Mekong, Yangtze, and Yellow – originate, are unique for remarkable TFFB ( Huang et al., 2021 ; Jiang et al., 2017 ), making this region contain almost the same Mammalia repositories as the Southwest ( Figure 2 B). Furthermore, like the Southwest, the southeast parts of the Northwest have been refugia for faunal and floral taxa since the glaciation ( Ma et al., 2017 ).…”

“…Unfortunately, this modern human civilization brought significant environmental and ecological devastation, echoed by degraded TFFB: The shared proportion for each group is lower than those of Coastal, Southwest, and Northwest ( Figure 2 B). Furthermore, three of the 11 mammalian orders became extinct ( Huang et al., 2021 ).…”

“…Regional species density (RSDI), biodiversity richness relative to its regional size for each group ( Huang et al., 2021 ). It was calculated with the formula of RSDI = N/A, where N is the species number of a given group in a region, and A is the area of the same region (km 2 ).…”

“…Although there were some social riots and disturbances, the threats to biodiversity and the environment were quite limited. For more details about regional differences in geography, ecology, and habitats, please see (Huang et al, 2021).…”

“…Jilin, and Liaoning). For more details about regional differences in geography, ecology, and habitats, please see ( Huang et al., 2021 ). …”