Bibliometric Review of Biodiversity Offsetting During 1992-2019

Biodiversity offsetting plays a crucial role in managing the impacts of development on natural habitats. Developers, conservation groups, governments and financial institutions have used biodiversity offsetting to design measurable conservation actions to compensate for significant residual adverse biodiversity impacts arising from development. However, the concepts and methodologies of biodiversity offsetting have rarely been systematically reviewed, and best practices are still lacking. This hinders the development and applications of this field, and makes it difficult for new researchers to learn, develop, and apply biodiversity offsetting. This paper aims to review research progress on biodiversity offsetting during the period of 1992 to 2019. We mainly used bibliometric analysis and social network analysis methods to expose the topic diversity, development and promotion of this research field, and assess collaboration among biodiversity offsetting scholars. Our research identified 1190 records, and revealed that the total number of publications increased rapidly since 2002. The most productive journal, country, and author were Biological Conservation, USA, and Dr. Maron M of University of Queensland, respectively. Co-author analysis identified that the 23 authors most relevant to biodiversity offsetting were involved in a collaboration network. And they were mainly from 30 countries in a collaboration network, and the authors from USA, Australia and the United Kingdom have the most cooperation, which mainly driven by policy related to biodiversity offsetting. Our review shows that biodiversity offsetting research is at an early stage of rapid development with topically diverse and collaborative science domains. The majority of studies focus on terrestrial environments, which makes the implementation of aquatic ecosystem is more difficult. Theoretical problems and the implications of research evolution and social network in biodiversity offsetting are discussed, and further development of the theory and methodologies of biodiversity offsetting and management was recommend.

A novel herbivorous wood-borer insect outbreak triggers die-offs of a foundation plant species in coastal ecosystems

Introduction:Understanding the trophic interactions between plants and herbivorous insects is essential for managing the ecosystem health and sustainability in the context of climate change and anthropogenic disturbance.The Tamarix chinensis is a foundation plant species of salt marshes in northern China,which provides a variety of ecological functions and services in coastal ecosystems such as withstanding storm tide,conserving biodiversity,and preventing shoreline erosion.Outcomes:However,through long-term field observations,for the first time,we found that the health of this population has been suffering from the potential outbreak of a novel wood-borer insect(Zeuzera leuconotum Butler)under multiple stresses,contributing substantially to the degradation of the coastal salt marshes.Discussion and Conclusion:Therefore,there is urgent need and great significance to investigate the potential impact of this herbivorous wood-borer insects on health and sustainability of plant community in coastal ecosystems for in-depth understanding its degradation mechanisms.