Achievements,challenges,and recommendations for waterbird conservation in China's coastal wetlands

China’s coastal wetlands provide breeding,migration stopover,and wintering habitats for about 230 waterbird species,which is more than a quarter of all waterbirds in the world.Large-scale and high intensity human activities have resulted in serious loss and degradation of coastal wetlands over the past half century,causing population declines in many waterbirds.Through a literature review and expert surveys,this article reviews conservation measures taken in recent decades to protect waterbirds in China’s coastal wetlands and provides recommendations for future conservation action from three aspects:policy and administration,habitat conservation and management,and multiparty participation.Over the past decades,many conservation legislation,regulations and action plans at the national level and more site-specific measures and interventions have been implemented,with notable improvement in the effectiveness in policy making and multi-stakeholder participation.Accordingly,some threats to waterbirds have been mitigated and many key sites for waterbirds have been designated as strictly protected nature reserves.However,some critical issues still remain,mostly related to habitat conservation and management,such as coastal wetland restoration,control of invasive Spartina alterniflora,control of environmental pollution,and improvement of artificial habitat quality.We highlight that protecting natural tidal wetlands and improving habitat quality are critical for the conservation of coastal waterbirds,especially those highly dependent on the intertidal wetlands.China has demonstrated strong commitment to ecological conservation and restoration for the future,in terms of both funding and policies for biodiversity and wetland ecosystems.It is important that this commitment to conserve coastal waterbirds is supported continuously by science-and evidence-based decisions and actions.

Corrigendum to“Achievements,challenges,and recommendations for waterbird conservation in China's coastal wetlands”[Avian Res.14(2023)100123]

The authors regret that Fig.1 and its caption should be replaced as below.

人为干扰对白腹锦鸡活动节律的影响

人类足迹的扩张增加了人与野生动物的相互作用。理解自然保护地的濒危物种对人为干扰的响应有助于更好地保护濒危物种和指导保护管理。以往的研究表明野生动物在时空维度会对人类的干扰进行规避,然而这类研究在野生雉类中还较少,尤其是分布在人为干扰相对较强的中低海拔区域的雉类,如白腹锦鸡(Chrysolophus amherstiae)。2017年11月至2018年10月,我们在中国西南部的一个亚热带森林保护区中使用红外相机陷阱技术对白腹锦鸡和人为干扰进行调查,并研究了白腹锦鸡在时空维度对3种不同类型人为干扰(人类活动、放牧和家养动物活动)的响应及其季节变化。结果表明,白腹锦鸡在空间维度并未对人为干扰进行规避,而在非繁殖季节的活动节律上对人为干扰在时间维度上进行了规避。具体而言,白腹锦鸡在全年和非繁殖季节的活动高峰集中在17:30–18:30,明显避开中午的人类活动高峰;而在繁殖季节,白腹锦鸡活动水平明显提高,和人为干扰的重叠度很高,可能是由于求偶、占区等繁殖行为使得白腹锦鸡无法规避人为干扰。此外,在人为干扰强度较高的位点,白腹锦鸡倾向于通过改变其日活动节律,将活动高峰期推迟至傍晚以降低与人为干扰的重叠度,进一步说明白腹锦鸡可通过调节其自身的日活动节律从而避开高强度的人为干扰。由于白腹锦鸡地面营巢和春夏季繁殖,自然保护区管理部门可通过管理人为活动,尤其在繁殖季节通过控制放牧和猫狗的活动来帮助白腹锦鸡及其他地面营巢鸟类维持繁殖成功率。