Waterbird habitat loss: fringes of the Yellow and Bohai Seas along the East Asian–Australasian Flyway

Abstract

Natural wetlands along the coasts of the Yellow and Bohai Seas provide key stopover sites for migratory waterbirds. However, these wetlands are facing land loss. Understanding how natural wetland loss influences habitat is important for habitat management. We used species distribution models to report changes in area of suitable habitat and analysed the effects of natural wetland loss on habitat for 80 waterbird species of four functional categories (shorebirds, ducks, herons, gulls) between 2000 and 2015 beside the Yellow and Bohai Seas. Between 2000 and 2015, 1794.8 km 2 (29.27%) of coastal wetland was lost to development, most of which were tidal flats that were lost by conversion into aquaculture and salt pan habitat or land for construction. Consequently, habitat for 73 of these 80 species has decreased in area over this time period. Generally, the proportional decline in habitat suitable for duck species was less than that for shorebirds, and the proportional decline in suitable habitat was not significantly different between National Protected Species and Non-National Protected Species. The proportional loss of tidal flats that formerly represented suitable habitat was also significantly higher for shorebirds, herons and gulls than for ducks. Because more duck species exploit aquaculture and salt pan habitat that was converted from tidal flats habitats, such conversion of tidal flats poses a greater threat to shorebirds, herons and gulls than to ducks. Preventing further reclamation of tidal flats and managing artificial wetlands are priorities for waterbird conservation.

Integrating biodiversity and ecosystem services to identify ecological priorities for an ecologically fragile city in China

“…In this case, 10 iterations were performed on the model. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) is a common metric for evaluating the quality of a given model (Duan et al, 2021). The AUC was 0.902 in validation and the average omission rate was close to the projected omission rate.…”

Diversity of waterbirds and their spatial and temporal distribution in different habitat types of Bohai Sea coastal wetlands (Shandong section)

“…Most shorebird populations along the EAAF prefer to forage in natural tidal ats with rich invertebrate communities (Jackson et al 2020). The loss of tidal ats poses a greater threat to shorebirds, herons, and gulls than to ducks (Duan et al 2021). Natural wetlands are critically important to the waterbird guilds in this region, and prioritizing the protection of coastal wetlands such as tidal ats and freshwater marshes is key to protecting waterbirds.…”

“…Coastal wetlands are an important transition zone between sea and land; they are also rich in natural resources, have large carbon stocks, and play a key role in regulating climate and hydrology, purifying water bodies, and maintaining biodiversity (Lin et al 2006). The coastal wetlands of the Yellow and Bohai Seas in China provide critical breeding, wintering, and stopover sites for waterbirds and are critically important for the conservation of waterbirds along the East Asia-Australasian Flyway (EAAF) (Duan et al 2021;Ma et al 2009b; Ma et al 2014). However, the rapid development of coastal urbanization and waterfront industries has led to a large reduction in coastal natural wetlands, the serious degradation of their functions, and a continuous decline in the number of waterbirds that depend on coastal wetlands (Hua et al 2015;Melville et al 2016;Yang et al 2011).…”

Assessing shorebird mortalities due to razor clam aquaculture at key migratory stopover sites in southeastern China

“…Aquaculture farms can provide useful foraging habitats for some waterbirds (Green et al., 2015), and, indeed, some species benefit from using these landscapes (Cheng et al., 2022; Wang et al., 2021). However, aquaculture also comes with negative environmental impacts, including pollution (Cao et al., 2007; He et al., 2016), the spread of diseases or parasites within aquaculture facilities (Lafferty et al., 2015; Murray & Peeler, 2005), and the loss of natural foraging habitats due to the construction of aquaculture facilities (Duan et al., 2021). Moreover, some aquaculture managers view birds as a business threat, especially birds that prey on fish or shellfish that are being raised commercially (Yong et al., 2022).…”