新冠疫情对全球生物多样性热点地区森林面积的影响

森林是维持生物多样性的重要保障,森林面积的损失常常会导致区域生物多样性的降低或丧失。为探讨新冠疫情对全球生物多样性的影响,该文利用Image J软件筛选出全球生物多样性热点地区占国土面积超60%的国家作为研究对象,以全球生物多样性热点地区的森林损失面积、生物多样性完整性数据、年度(2020年和2021年)新冠疫情感染数据、国内生产总值(GDP)为研究对象,进行关联分析、线性混合效应模型构建和回归预测。结果表明:虽然新冠病毒的每百万人口感染数量与森林损失面积表现为显著负相关,具体表现为新冠疫情显著减少了因城市和农业大规模扩张而导致的森林损失面积,但在新冠疫情暴发的2年(2020年和2021年)期间,全球生物多样性热点地区的森林损失总量仍然持续上升,主要原因是新冠疫情间接加速了人工林和天然林的采伐。回归模型预测显示,新冠疫情期间,全球生物多样性热点地区的森林损失面积在2020年和2021年分别增加了5.83%和21.78%。综上表明,虽然新冠疫情对生物多样性热点地区的森林损失具有一定的抑制作用,但森林损失面积仍然在增加。该研究结果为制定生物多样性的保护措施提供了数据支撑。

A global perspective on the influence of COVID-19 pandemic on forest areas in biodiversity hotspots

Forests play a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity, and the loss of forest is often associated with regional biodiversity decline or loss. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the influence of COVID-19 pandemic on global biodiversity using Image J software to identify countries with more than 60% of the world''s biodiversity hotsports, by analyzing data on forest loss area, biodiversity integrity data, annual(in 2020 and 2021)COVID-19 infection data, and Gross Domestic Product(GDP)in global biodiversity hotspots, using correlation analysis, linear mixed-effects model construction, and regression prediction. The results revealed although a significant negative correlation between the number of COVID-19 infections per million population and forest loss area, namely, the pandemic reduced forest loss due to large-scale urban and agricultural expansion, the total forest loss in global biodiversity hotspots continued to rise during the pandemic years(2020 and 2021), largely due to the indirect acceleration of logging activities in natural and artificial forests. The regression model predicted that the forest loss area in global biodiversity hotspots increased by 5.83% and 21.78% in 2020 and 2021, respectively, during COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, notwithstanding COVID-19 pandemic''s restraining effect on forest loss in biodiversity hotspots, the forest loss area still exhibits an upward trend. The results provide the data supports for developing the protective measures of biodiversity.