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Globally, rising food demand has caused widespread biodiversity and ecosystem services loss, prompting growing efforts in ecological protection and restoration. However, these efforts have been significantly undercut by further reclamation for cropland. Focusing on China, the world's largest grain producer, we found that at the national level from 2000 to 2015, reclamation for cropland undermined gains in wildlife habitat and the ecosystem services of water retention, sandstorm prevention, carbon sequestration and soil retention by 113.8%, 63.4%, 52.5%, 29.0% and 10.2%, respectively. To achieve global sustainability goals, conflicts between inefficient reclamation for cropland and natural capital investment need to be alleviated., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Aboveground carbon storage in forests can be influenced by both structural and compositional diversity of plant communities. However, the relative and interactive effects of structural and compositional diversity on multilevel aboveground carbon storage across forest strata and how these relationships vary with altitude and soil nutrients remain unclear. Using data obtained from 34 tropical forest plots (total area 8.5 ha) in Hainan Island, China, we analyzed the relationships between aboveground carbon at four levels (litter, understory, overstory, and whole-community) with structural diversity (diameter and height diversity) and compositional diversity (species diversity and evenness) in the understory and overstory. The direct and indirect effects of altitude, soil nutrients (total N and total P and N/P ratio), structural diversity, and compositional diversity on aboveground carbon were explored via Bayesian structural equation modeling. The results showed that structural diversity, rather than compositional diversity, in overstory stratum determined aboveground carbon. Specifically, overstory structural diversity was negatively associated with understory carbon, while positively associated with overstory and whole-community carbon. Furthermore, diversity‑carbon relationships were slightly affected by soil nutrients but strongly by altitude. Specifically, the relationship between overstory and whole-community carbon content with overstory tree height diversity weakened with altitude, while their relationship with overstory diameter diversity strengthened. Altitude directly and indirectly affected overstory tree height and diameter diversity through overstory species diversity, thereby reducing understory and increasing overstory and whole-community carbon. Altitude directly promoted litter carbon. We provide evidence that the effects of plant diversity on aboveground carbon storage are forest strata- and altitude-dependent. As overstory structural diversity plays a crucial role in storing aboveground carbon at all altitudes, we proposed that focusing on overstory structural diversity would be promising for predicting trends in how plant diversity affects aboveground carbon in response to climate change., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to in fluence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

This study aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the role of urban waterbodies in avian ecology, which is instructive for both biodiversity conservation and urban planning. Based on bird surveys conducted in 41 urban parks in Beijing during the breeding and wintering seasons of 2018-2019, and using standardized regression analyses, we identified the specific effects of waterbody attributes on the full avian community and forest bird guilds. We assessed this at multiple spatial scales, first within the focal parks, and then within buffer zones with radius of 200 m and 1000 m. We found that waterbodies can serve as avian diversity "hotspots" in the urban landscape. More specifically, they support avian diversity in the following ways: (1) Parks with waterbodies maintain a higher number of bird species than parks without waterbodies during the breeding season and attract resident forest birds during the wintering season. (2) When not frozen, waterbodies inside and outside parks contribute equally to resident forest bird species richness, while more individuals were attracted by waterbodies within neighborhoods. (3) In parks without waterbodies, the number of forest bird species significantly increases with the number of waterbody patches within neighborhoods, while the corresponding relationship for parks with waterbodies is insignificant. These findings suggest a preference for habitats nearby waterbodies among forest birds residing highly urbanized areas. This study provides new insights into avian ecology in urban landscapes and scientific support for the idea that creating and maintaining urban waterbodies can conserve biodiversity., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors of this study declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Anthropogenic activities have weakened the invasion of ruderals and increased the number of non-native species in urban areas. Ruderals are an important component of urban plant diversity and are of great significance to the sustainable development of urban green space. We used the tessellation⁻randomized plot method to examine the composition and biodiversity of ruderal species among urban land use types (LUTs) in the built-up areas of Beijing. Soil samples from the surface to a depth of 10 cm were taken from each site to examine the impact of soil characteristics on ruderal species diversity. Results showed that a total of 120 ruderal species were observed, including 71 native and 49 non-native species. Among them, 90% were identified as Cosmopolitan. Native species accounted for the majority of ruderals across all the eight LUTs. Institutional, residential, and woodlot areas with coarser management had higher ruderal species richness than did commercial areas and roadside lawns. Allergenic species showed the highest proportions in municipal parks, and invasive species accounted for 20% of all ruderal species. Ruderal species diversity was related to distance from the urban center, pruning intensity, and soil characteristics. These results suggest that with ruderals playing an important role in urban grass species diversity, there is tremendous potential for more native species in Beijing lawns, which would contribute substantially to increasing the ecological system's functional benefits. Ruderal species accustomed to the causal processes and environmental conditions of different LUTs should be used and conserved properly to improve the harsh conditions of different LUTs and to sustain ecosystem health.

Recent expansion of the scale of human activities poses severe threats to Earth's life-support systems. Increasingly, protected areas (PAs) are expected to serve dual goals: protect biodiversity and secure ecosystem services. We report a nationwide assessment for China, quantifying the provision of threatened species habitat and four key regulating services-water retention, soil retention, sandstorm prevention, and carbon sequestration-in nature reserves (the primary category of PAs in China). We find that China's nature reserves serve moderately well for mammals and birds, but not for other major taxa, nor for these key regulating ecosystem services. China's nature reserves encompass 15.1% of the country's land surface. They capture 17.9% and 16.4% of the entire habitat area for threatened mammals and birds, but only 13.1% for plants, 10.0% for amphibians, and 8.5% for reptiles. Nature reserves encompass only 10.2-12.5% of the source areas for the four key regulating services. They are concentrated in western China, whereas much threatened species' habitat and regulating service source areas occur in eastern provinces. Our analysis illuminates a strategy for greatly strengthening PAs, through creating the first comprehensive national park system of China. This would encompass both nature reserves, in which human activities are highly restricted, and a new category of PAs for ecosystem services, in which human activities not impacting key services are permitted. This could close the gap in a politically feasible way. We also propose a new category of PAs globally, for sustaining the provision of ecosystems services and achieving sustainable development goals.

In response to ecosystem degradation from rapid economic development, China began investing heavily in protecting and restoring natural capital starting in 2000. We report on China's first national ecosystem assessment (2000-2010), designed to quantify and help manage change in ecosystem services, including food production, carbon sequestration, soil retention, sandstorm prevention, water retention, flood mitigation, and provision of habitat for biodiversity. Overall, ecosystem services improved from 2000 to 2010, apart from habitat provision. China's national conservation policies contributed significantly to the increases in those ecosystem services., (Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.)

Urban green space is an important refuge of biodiversity in urban areas. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the relationship between the landscape pattern of green spaces and biodiversity to mitigate the negative effects of urbanization. In this study, we collected insects from 45 green patches in Beijing during July 2012 using suction sampling. The green patches were dominated by managed lawns, mixed with scattered trees and shrubs. We examined the effects of landscape pattern on insect species density using hierarchical partitioning analysis and partial least squares regression. The results of the hierarchical partitioning analysis indicated that five explanatory variables, i.e., patch area (with 19.9% independent effects), connectivity (13.9%), distance to nearest patch (13.8%), diversity for patch types (11.0%), and patch shape (8.3%), significantly contributed to insect species density. With the partial least squares regression model, we found species density was negatively related to patch area, shape, connectivity, diversity for patch types and proportion of impervious surface at the significance level of p < 0.05 and positively related to proportion of vegetated land. Regression tree analysis further showed that the highest species density was found in green patches with an area <500 m2. Our results indicated that improvement in habitat quality, such as patch area and connectivity that are typically thought to be important for conservation, did not actually increase species density. However, increasing compactness (low-edge) of patch shape and landscape composition did have the expected effect. Therefore, it is recommended that the composition of the surrounding landscape should be considered simultaneously with planned improvements in local habitat quality.

Gross ecosystem product (GEP) is the aggregate economic value of the final goods and services of the ecosystem produced within a given area, providing a potentially effective means of linking nature protection and restoration to development.In this study, we calculated the values and distribution of biodiversity, GEP and gross domestic product (GDP) in the 547 counties of Southwestern China, a biodiversity hotspot. We then divided the region into nine types of area based on spatial correlations between the three indicators.Areas with high biodiversity, GEP per km2 and GDP per capita were mainly found in and around the large cities of Kunming, Chengdu and Guiyang, reflecting a reasonably high degree of coupling coordination between ecosystems and the local economy.Contrary to our hypotheses, areas with high biodiversity do not necessarily have high GEP, and regions with high GDP do not inherently have low biodiversity. This suggests that synergies exist between biodiversity conservation and economic development, and that increasing the value of material and non‐material services in GEP could improve this alignment.Based on our findings, we argue that GEP can act as a bridge between biodiversity conservation and economic development. Understanding the interactions between biodiversity, GEP and GDP can inform the design of effective policies. In particular, we suggest that sustainable agricultural intensification and forestry along with ecotourism offer promising pathways for advancing nature‐positive development in this ecologically critical region. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity plays a key role in supporting ecosystem services. Understanding this relationship sheds light on the linkages between ecological structure and functioning, thereby increasing the capacity for effective strategies of ecosystem conservation and restoration.Focusing on southwestern China, a global biodiversity hotspot, we evaluated the spatial correlations between biodiversity and four regulating services and one cultural service. We calculated critical points of change in the relationship between biodiversity and each of these ecosystem services and categorized the region into 'threshold', 'sensitive', 'saturation', 'recession' and 'low‐value' areas.The results show that the spatial correlation between biodiversity and regulating services was mainly positive in the Nujiang River and Lancang River basins and the Dayao Mountains, while biodiversity was negatively correlated with provisioning and cultural services in the Qionglai and Hengduan Mountains. The slope value of the curve fitted for the biodiversity–ecosystem service relationships was approximately 1 when species richness was approximately 50; the corresponding areas were termed threshold areas and were pivotal zones of change in the biodiversity–ecosystem service relationships. These areas were mainly distributed in the Qionglai Mountains, Hengduan Mountains and Nujiang River Basin, and should be prioritized for monitoring and biodiversity protection.Synthesis and applications: Our findings can help improve understanding of the spatially complex interactions between biodiversity and multiple ecosystem services, as well as identifying areas that should be prioritized for protection and restoration; they also contribute towards a scientific framework for integrated management and policy in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper also catalyzed the establishment of the "International Network of Research on Coupled Human and Natural Systems" (CHANS-Net) to promote and facilitate communications and collaborations between a diverse community of CHANS scholars. The CHANS paper was preceded by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment[1] and crystallization of sustainability science and resilience concepts, for example, and the CHANS paper brought these ideas together and helped link these communities. CHANS-Net has also supported many young scholars (e.g., CHANS Fellows) from all over the globe to attend, present, network, collaborate, and learn from senior scholars at the various events. All three concepts are often used interchangeably, although formally the latter two are subsets of CHANS because CHANS includes not only social dimensions but also many other human dimensions (e.g., economic, cultural) that are not emphasized in the term of "social-ecological systems". [Extracted from the article]

Land‐use intensification has increased soil erosion through biodiversity loss, which affects ecosystem properties and services owing to changes in species compositional and structural diversity. However, information is limited on how land‐use intensity (LUI) affects soil erosion through species compositional diversity, structural diversity and ecosystem properties. In this study we monitored soil erosion in 15 plots over 12 consecutive months on tropical Hainan Island, where land‐use changes and biodiversity loss have been severe. We quantified the direct and indirect effects of LUI, species compositional diversity (plant species diversity and evenness) and structural diversity (tree diameter and height diversity), and ecosystem properties on soil erosion using Bayesian structural equation models (BSEM). The optimal BSEM accounted for 69% of the variation in soil erosion. The LUI did not affect soil erosion directly but showed indirect impacts via species diversity, tree height diversity, and ecosystem properties. Both high species diversity and tree height diversity reduced soil erosion directly and indirectly by promoting root length density (an ecosystem property), but tree height diversity mediated the more important indirect effect of LUI on soil erosion than species diversity and ecosystem properties. We provide evidence for loss of species diversity and tree height diversity as a result of LUI leading to aggravated soil erosion, but the impact of the latter was more serious. Therefore, we emphasize that maintenance of tree height diversity through management practices may be an effective approach to control soil erosion in the context of drastic land‐use changes in tropical areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The significance of biodiversity and ecosystem services are gradually recognized by human as an approach towards sustainability, so it is important to understand relationships and congruence between them to support conservation planning, especially in the hotspot areas with a prominent role in conservation. However, the management of most conservation hotspots mainly focused on biodiversity, and rarely concerned with ecosystem services. With the aim of proposing criteria for conservation strategies that contribute to the optimization of biodiversity and ecosystem services, in this study, a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based approach was designed to estimate and map the biodiversity and ecosystem services in Chongqing Municipality of China. Furthermore, the distributions of hotspot areas for biodiversity and ecosystem services were mapped based on the relationship between cumulative ecosystem services and areas. Finally the statistical analysis was processed focused on specific conservation objectives. The results showed that hotspot areas can conserve the most biodiversity but with the least ecosystem services under the conservation plans target to biodiversity conservation. In contrast, depending on the ecosystem services of interest, hotspot areas can conserve the largest ecosystem services but with the least biodiversity. By integrating biodiversity and ecosystem services into conservation plan, we found that the conservation and regeneration of these small areas, would contribute to a conservation of 44% of the biodiversity hotspot and 14%-42% of the ecosystem services hotspot. Moreover, the current nature reserve selection was not maximize the biodiversity and ecosystem services compared to integration strategy, indicating that hotspot areas conservation and selection is vital for optimization protection of biodiversity and ecosystem services, and has practical significance for natural resources and ecosystem management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The establishment of nature reserves is a key approach for biodiversity conservation worldwide. However, there is a lack of unified methodology to evaluate the effectiveness of nature reserves, particularly in China, the world′s most populous nation supporting some of the most valuable biodiversity hotspots in the world. In this study, we conducted a long-term and large-scale analysis of the effectiveness of 20 of the earliest nature reserves established in Hainan Province, an island home to among the highest concentration of plants and animals in China. Remote sensing imagery from 1988, 1998, and 2008 were analyzed to investigate the temporal and spatial changes of natural forests in these nature reserves and surrounding areas. We also conducted transition matrix analysis and principle component analysis to identify the driving factors that affect the protection effectiveness of nature reserves. The results were as follows: 1) During the 20-year period from 1988 to 2008, natural forests coverage of the 20 studied nature reserves dropped 2.34 percentage points, whereas the natural forests coverage dropped 11.31 percentage points in a 0-5 km outside reserve buffer and 9.36 percentage points in a 5-10 km outside reserve buffer, indicating a significant inhibitory effect of the nature reserves on the loss of natural forests. 2) Natural forests coverage dropped in 60% of the studied nature reserves during the 20-year period, suggesting a poor protection effectiveness of these reserves, while the coverage proportion showed some increase (0%/yr-5%/yr) in other reserves. 3) Expansion of rubber and pulp forests as part of a booming economy were the main factors affecting the effectiveness of the nature reserves for conserving natural forests in Hainan Province. The results of this study provide an important empirical basis for the protection of natural forests in Hainan Province, which can be used as a blueprint for nature reserve evaluation in other places in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Livestock production is one of the greatest threats to biodiversity worldwide. However, impacts of livestock on endangered species have been understudied, particularly across the livestock–wildlife interface in forested protected areas. We investigated the impact of an emerging livestock sector in China's renowned Wolong Nature Reserve for giant pandas. We integrated empirical data from field surveys, remotely sensed imagery, and GPS collar tracking to analyze (1) the spatial distribution of horses in giant panda habitat, (2) space use and habitat selection patterns of horses and pandas, and (3) the impact of horses on pandas and bamboo (panda's main food source). We discovered that the horse distribution overlapped with suitable giant panda habitat. Horses had smaller home ranges than pandas but both species showed similarities in habitat selection. Horses consumed considerable amounts of bamboo, and may have resulted in a decline in panda habitat use. Our study highlights the need to formulate policies to address this emerging threat to the endangered giant panda. It also has implications for understanding livestock impacts in other protected areas across the globe. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Biodiversity and ecosystem services are intrinsically linked. Since human activities have both intensive and extensive impacts on the environment, it is critical to understand spatial relationships between conservation priorities for biodiversity and ecosystem services. The manner in which various aspects of biodiversity relate to ecosystem services and the spatial congruence between biodiversity and these services, is, however, unclear. In the present study in the Baiyangdian watershed, China, we investigated spatial characteristics of biodiversity and ecosystem services using correlation, overlap, and principal component, analyses. The spatial correlations between biodiversity and ecosystem services were found to be high. Biodiversity was positively correlated with soil retention, water yield and carbon sequestration and negatively correlated with N/P retention and pollination. Pairwise overlap was found to be the highest between N and P retention, biodiversity and carbon sequestration, and biodiversity and water yield. Other couples indicated moderate or small overlap. Principal component analysis indicated that biodiversity and six ecosystem services could be divided into two groups, which could be managed and conserved separately. It can be concluded that biodiversity priorities co-occur with water yield, soil retention and carbon sequestration, and do not co-occur with N/P retention and pollination. Conservation of a biodiversity hotspot was associated with maintaining 45.02% of a carbon sequestration hotspot, 42.05% of a water yield hotspot, and 23.29% of a soil retention hotspot, indicating that conserving biodiversity will also result in the protection of these services. The bundling of biodiversity and ecosystem services is thus both possible and practical. Our findings provide valuable information on congruence and divergence among conservation hotspots and the protection of ecosystem services. They also indicate that a systematic and comprehensive approach that can have wide-ranging policy implications in terms of optimizing conservation strategies for multiple ecosystem services. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Tropical island countries are often highly populated and deliver immense ecosystem service benefits. As human wellbeing depends on these ecosystems, proper management is crucial in the resource-rich tropical lands where there is less related research. Though ecosystem service and biodiversity studies are a promising path to inform the ecosystem management for these mostly developing countries, published evidence of using ecosystem service studies in decision making is lacking. The purpose of this study is to provide an overview of ecosystem services and related research in Sri Lanka, examining trends and gaps in how these studies are conceptualized. Out of the considered 220 peer-reviewed articles, the majority of articles (48.2%) were terrestrial and forest related while coastal ecosystems were considered in 33.2% of studies. In most studies, the ecosystem service category studied was provisioning (31.5%) followed by regulatory service (28.7%). Studies investigating and quantifying ecosystem services, pressures on ecosystems, and their management were fewer compared to studies related to biodiversity or species introduction. Moreover, studies investigating the value of ecosystem services and biodiversity to the communities or involvement of stakeholders in the development of management actions regarding the ecosystem services were rare in Sri Lanka, and an intense focus from future studies in these aspects is timely and necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Impact pathways of land-use intensity on soil water conservation were quantified. • Land-use intensity indirectly affects soil water conservation mainly via plant functional traits. • The main plant functional trait influencing soil water is tree height diversity. • Effects of tree height diversity on soil water conservation varied with rainfall intensity. • Tree height diversity is important to cope with seasonal drought under climate change. Land-use intensification has led to biodiversity loss, which affects ecosystem properties and services by altering plant functional traits. However, the mechanistic pathways through which land-use intensity (LUI) affects ecosystem services across functional traits and ecosystem properties remain unclear. We studied the relationships among LUI, plant functional traits, ecosystem properties, and soil water conservation in tropical Hainan Island, China, where land-use changes, biodiversity loss, and seasonal drought have had severe impacts. Soil water conservation was represented by two complementary processes, namely soil water retention (SWR) and soil water capture (SWC). SWR and SWC were observed along a LUI gradient after 27 rainfall events (14 light, 10 moderate, and 3 heavy). We quantified the direct and indirect effects of LUI, the community-weighted mean (CWM) and functional divergence (FDvar) of water-related plant functional traits (tree height, leaf thickness, specific leaf area, and leaf dry matter content), and ecosystem properties on SWC and SWR using Bayesian structural equation models. The results showed that LUI did not affect SWC and SWR directly but presented indirect impacts via functional traits and ecosystem properties. Importantly, tree height FDvar mediated the most important indirect effect of LUI on both SWC and SWR. Tree height FDvar indirectly affected SWC through ecosystem properties, while the direction of the effect changed from negative to positive with increasing rainfall intensity, and promoted SWR directly and indirectly by increasing litter fall and soil organic matter. Our results further provide evidence of an indirect effect of LUI on soil water conservation primarily through tree height FDvar. Loss of functional diversity of plant height caused by LUI resulted in a decrease in SWR and SWC, indicating that seasonal drought causes increased impacts. The results emphasize that maintaining functional diversity of tree height in tropical land use is conducive for soil water conservation to mitigate increased intensity of seasonal drought predicted under climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biodiversity, regulating ecosystem services (RES), and vegetation productivity are key indicators to instruct natural conservation planning. Decision makers often hope that ecosystems can be protected by focusing on certain key indicators, which requires an understanding of the relationships between the indicators. Using individual case studies, many have argued that these indicators commonly have significant relationships. However, these relationships at different spatial scales are unclear. Therefore, in this study, biodiversity and ecosystem services are modelled by the ecological niche model, the universal soil loss equation, and the equation of water balance in two study areas at different scales. The influence of vegetation productivity on the spatial pattern of other ecological indicators in the two areas is examined by a spatial lag model. The contributions of the driving factors on biodiversity distribution at both scales are identified by a boosted regression tree (BRT) model. The results showed that at the fine scale, the spatial correlations were strongest for species richness, especially mammalian species richness, and water retention. However, biodiversity had no significant relationship with vegetation productivity. In contrast, at a coarser scale, the correlation was stronger between plant diversity and regulating ecosystem services. In addition, plant diversity was significantly correlated with vegetation productivity. These differences between scales were controlled by various explanatory variables. At the fine scale, biophysical and climatic factors had the strongest effects on biodiversity distribution, while Net Primary Productivity (NPP) and ecoregion also had relatively high influences on biodiversity at the coarse scale. This demonstrates the critical importance of spatial scale in selecting conservation indicators. We suggest that rare mammalian species richness or flagship mammal species are suitable as conservation surrogates in fine-scale conservation planning. However, at a coarser scale, selecting vegetation patches with more rare plant species and high productivity for each ecoregion is a workable alternative method for conservation planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first Global Assessment of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) found widespread, accelerating declines in Earth's biodiversity and associated benefits to people from nature. Addressing these trends will require science-based policy responses to reduce impacts, especially at national to local scales. Effective scaling of science-policy efforts, driven by global and national assessments, is a major challenge for turning assessment into action and will require unprecedented commitment by scientists to engage with communities of policy and practice. Fulfillment of science's social contract with society, and with nature, will require strong institutional support for scientists' participation in activities that transcend conventional research and publication. The IPBES Global Assessment released in the spring of 2019 is a significant milestone for the international scientific community; the critical challenge now is to disseminate and apply its findings at national and local scales where most policy and management decisions affecting biodiversity and ecosystem services are made. Effective, enduring action from assessments requires collaborative, multidisciplinary science-policy processes that frame and cogenerate knowledge with decision makers and stakeholders from many sectors. Examples of assessments driving policy responses to recover biodiversity and ecosystem services highlight the need for significant, long-term commitments by governments, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the private sector, civil society, and the scientific community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Representativeness and management effectiveness of China's pilot national parks was assessed. • Representativeness increased by >50 % on average than the existing protected areas. • Ten pilot national parks integrated 142 existing protected areas of seven categories. • The protected areas and the area under strict protection increased by 19.4% and 42.1%. • Relocation and enhanced land management in the pilot NPs reduced human disturbance. The continuous decline of global biodiversity highlights the need for the expansion and improved performance of protected areas (PAs) to achieve the Post-2020 Biodiversity Targets and 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. China proposed the establishment of a national park (NP) system and carried out transformative explorations in 10 pilot NPs, however, it is unclear to what extent the pilot NPs represent China's biodiversity and resolve management issues. To answer this question, we assessed the performance of the pilot NPs by analyzing the representativeness across typical ecosystems, biodiversity priority areas, and ecosystem services, and by analyzing the management effectiveness of reorganizing the existing PAs and improving the management intensity and man-land relationships. We found that China's pilot NPs achieved improved representativeness and management effectiveness through range expansion and optimization, institution streamlining, and cohesive management. Compared with the existing PAs, the area of protected typical ecosystems, biodiversity priority areas, and key areas of ecosystem services in the 10 pilot NPs increased by 59.6%, 59.6%, and 54.1% on average, respectively, with a similar land cost overall. The 10 pilot NPs integrated 142 existing PAs of seven categories. The protected areas expanded by 19.4%, and the area under strict protection increased by 42.1%. Additionally, the pilot NPs effectively reduced human disturbance and improved management effectiveness through necessary relocation and enhanced land management. Moving forward, the boundaries and zoning of the NPs should be further optimized, and efforts should be directed to strengthen the governing capacity building, improve the legislation system, increase the financing investment, and promote the value realization of ecological products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Impact of species-size network structure on forest biomass was quantified. • Modularity positively related to aboveground biomass but nestedness was negative. • Modularity mediated the effects of plant diversity on aboveground biomass. • The role of network modularity did not vary with sampling area. • Modularity can be used as an indicator to predict forest aboveground biomass. Although biodiversity has been shown to profoundly affect ecosystem function in forests, the processes which it impacts are limited understood. Various plant species with diverse sizes interact to form complex networks to complete resource use processes, but little is known about the role of species-size networks in influencing ecosystem function and biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships. Using a dataset encompassing 423 species and 32,067 individuals, we constructed species–tree diameter and species–tree height networks for two sampling areas (0.04 and 0.09 ha), and then calculated the network modularity for species and size interlinked specialization and nestedness, species or sizes with relatively few links are a subset of those with more network links. We analyzed the relationships between modularity, nestedness, and the aboveground biomass. The direct and indirect effects of species abundance and richness on the aboveground biomass through network structures were explored using structural equation modelling. Regardless of the species–tree diameter or height network, modularity was positively associated with the aboveground biomass, independent of the sampling area, while nestedness was negatively associated. Species abundance negatively affected the modularity, but positively affected nestedness, whereas species richness had the opposite effect. Species abundance and richness affected the aboveground biomass indirectly through modularity and nestedness, but the effect of modularity was greater than that of nestedness. Our study confirms that the importance of species–size networks in the context of the aboveground biomass has similar effects on species–diameter and height networks across sampling areas. It clarifies that modularity from interactions between species and individuals is a useful indicator to reveal the mechanism by which plant diversity acquires resources for biomass production. These results provide new insights into biodiversity–ecosystem function relationships from a network perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Assessing species composition and its changes through time across broad geographic regions is time consuming and a difficult endeavor. The synoptic view provided by imaging remote sensors offers an alternative. But while many studies have developed procedures for assessing biodiversity using multi- and hyper-spectral imagery, they may only provide snapshots at particular months/seasons due to the seasonal variability of spectral characteristics induced by vegetated land surface phenologies. Thus, procedures for remotely assessing biodiversity patterns may not fully represent the biodiversity on the ground if vegetated land surface phenologies are not considered. Using Mantel tests, ordinarily least square regression models and spatial autoregressive models, we assessed the relationship between floristic diversity and vegetated land surface phenologies, as captured by time series of vegetation indices derived from data acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The relationship was calibrated with data from temperate montane forests of the Qinling Mountains region, Shaanxi Province, China. Our results show that floristically similar areas also exhibit a comparable similarity in phenological characteristics. However, phenological similarity obtained using the Visible Atmospherically Resistant Index (VARI), a spectral vegetation index found to be not only sensitive to changes in chlorophyll content but also linearly related with the relative content of foliar anthocyanins, exhibited the strongest relationship with floristic similarity. Therefore, analysis of the temporal dynamics of pigments through the use of satellite-derived metrics, such as VARI, may be used for evaluating the spatial patterns and temporal dynamics of species composition across broad geographic regions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Human modification of land-cover has been a leading cause of floral and faunal species extirpation and loss of local and global biodiversity. As natural areas are impacted, habitat and populations can become fragmented and isolated. This is particularly evident in the mountainous areas of southwestern China that support the remaining populations of giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). Giant panda populations have been restricted to remnants of habitat from extensive past land use and land-cover change. Households are a basic socio-economic unit that continues to impact the remaining habitat through activities such as fuelwood consumption and new household creation. Therefore, we developed a spatio-temporal model of human activities and their impacts by directly integrating households into the landscape. The integrated model allows us to examine the landscape factors influencing the spatial distribution of household activities and household impacts on habitat. As an example application, we modeled household activities in a giant panda reserve in China and examined the spatio-temporal dynamics of households, the landscape, and their mutual interactions. Human impacts are projected to result in the loss of up to 16% of all existing habitat within the reserve over the next 30 years. In addition, we found that accessibility largely controls the spatial distribution of household activities and considerable changes in management and household activities will be required to maintain the current level of habitat within the reserve. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

To counter their widespread loss, global aspirations are for no net loss of remaining wetlands [ 1 ]. We examine whether this goal alone is sufficient for managing China's wetlands, for they constitute 10% of the world's total. Analyzing wetland changes between 2000 and 2015 using 30-m-resolution satellite images, we show that China's wetlands expanded by 27,614 km2 but lost 26,066 km2—a net increase of 1,548 km2 (or 0.4%). This net change hides considerable complexities in the types of wetlands created and destroyed. The area of open water surface increased by 9,110 km2, but natural wetlands—henceforth "marshes"—decreased by 7,562 km2. Of the expanded wetlands, restoration policies contributed 24.5% and dam construction contributed 20.8%. Climate change accounted for 23.6% but is likely to involve a transient increase due to melting glaciers. Of the lost wetlands, agricultural and urban expansion contributed 47.7% and 13.8%, respectively. The increase in wetlands from conservation efforts (6,765 km2) did not offset human-caused wetland losses (16,032 km2). The wetland changes may harm wildlife. The wetland loss in east China threatens bird migration across eastern Asia [ 2 ]. Open water from dam construction flooded the original habitats of threatened terrestrial species and affected aquatic species by fragmenting wetland habitats [ 3 ]. Thus, the "no net loss" target measures total changes without considering changes in composition and the corresponding ecological functions. It may result in "paper offsets" and should be used carefully as a target for wetland conservation. • We examine the sufficiency of the "no net loss" goal for managing China's wetlands • China's wetlands showed a net increase of 1,548 km2 between 2000 and 2015 • Conservation efforts to restore wetlands did not offset human-caused wetland losses • The "no net loss" goal should be used carefully as a target for wetland conservation Xu et al. examine the sufficiency of the "no net loss" goal for managing wetlands. China's wetlands had a net increase of 1,548 km2 between 2000 and 2015. This number hides considerable complexities of wetland changes such as those in composition and ecological functions. The "no net loss" goal should not be used alone for wetland conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]