Wetland key habitat functional areas in China informed by flagship waterbirds: Past changes, present status and future trend with modeling scenarios

Abstract

Considering the crucial role of wetland conservation in China for the sustainability of biodiversity, it is imperative to identify key habitat functional areas (KHFAs), which are suitable for sustaining waterbirds and ensuring landscape connectivity, to optimize wetland management. This study identifies the past changes, present status, and future patterns of wetland KHFAs in China by using the Zonation model with comprehensive data inputs, including wetland distribution, key bird distribution areas (such as Ramsar sites and Important Bird Areas), and flagship waterbird species. Results show that the current wetland KHFAs in China is 41,613.5 km², mainly in the Sanjiang Plain (SJP), Songnen Plain (SNP), middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau (QXP) regions. The area of wetland KHFAs has been declining since 1990, especially in 2000, mainly due to anthropogenic impacts such as urbanization and agricultural expansion. The future projections suggest a continued decline in the area of wetland KHFAs, although the trend is expected to be slowed. The conservation gap analysis indicates that prioritizing wetland reserves in KHFAs areas, such as the SJP, SNP, and QXP, can significantly enhance the protection of wetland flagship species and their habitats. The results of this study establish conservation priorities that align with national goals of a 55 % wetland protection rate and the global biodiversity framework in protected areas and biodiversity, indicating that the spatial conservation optimization approach is an effective method for identifying wetland KHFAs.

Keywords

Wetland / Waterbird key habitat / Conservation prioritization / Zonation model / China

CRediT authorship contribution statement

Hengxing Xiang: Writing - original draft, Methodology, Funding acquisition, Formal analysis, Data curation, Conceptualization. Dehua Mao: Writing - review & editing. Ming Wang: Investigation. Yeqiao Wang: Writing - review & editing. Chi-Yeung Choi: Writing - review & editing. Wenjuan Wang: Writing - review & editing. Haitao Wu: Writing - review & editing. Kaidong Feng: Resources. Zongming Wang: Writing - review & editing.

Declaration of competing interests

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgements

This research was jointly funded by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grants No. 2022YFF1300904, 2023YFF0807201-1), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants No. 42301430, U2243230), and the “Young support talents program” from Science and Technology Association of Jilin Province (2024-2026) to Dr. Hengxing Xiang (QT202417).

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