Low ecological representation in the protected area network of China |
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| Authors: | Haigen Xu Mingchang Cao Zhi Wang Yi Wu Yun Cao Jun Wu Zhifang Le Peng Cui Hui Ding Wanggu Xu Hua Peng Jianping Jiang Yuhu Wu Xuelong Jiang Zhiyun Zhang Dingqi Rao Jianqiang Li Fumin Lei Nianhe Xia Lianxian Han Wei Cao Jiayu Wu Xin Xia Yimin Li |
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| Institution: | 1. Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Nanjing, China;2. College of Forest Resources and Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China;3. College of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China;4. Kunming Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China;5. Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, China;6. Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, China;7. Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China;8. Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;9. Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China;10. Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China;11. South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China;12. College of Forestry, Southwest Forestry University, Kunming, China;13. Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, China;14. College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China;15. Faculty of Science, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China |
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| Abstract: | Protected areas are considered as an essential strategy to halt the decline of biodiversity. Ecological representation in protected areas is crucial for assessment on the progress toward conservation targets. Although China has established a large number of protected areas since the 1950s, ecological representation of protected areas is poorly understood. Here, we performed the complementarity analysis to evaluate ecological representation of protected areas in China. We used a database of the geographical distribution for 10,396 woody plant species, 2,305 fern species, 406 amphibian species, 460 reptile species, 1,364 bird species, and 590 mammal species from 2,376 counties across China. We identified complementary sets of counties for all species or threatened species of plant and vertebrate species using a complementarity algorithm. We evaluated ecological representation of 3,627 protected areas and discerned conservation gaps by comparing the distribution of protected areas with complementary sets. The results show that the spatially representative and complementary sites for biodiversity are poorly covered, and a fairly large proportion of protected areas is not designed to efficiently represent biodiversity at the national scale. Our methodology can serve as a generic framework for assessment on ecological representation of protected areas at the national scale. |
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| Keywords: | biodiversity complementarity conservation gaps species threatened species |
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