Protecting stopover habitat for migratory shorebir

Authors: Nicholas J Murray Richard A Fuller

Publish Date: 2015/04/24

Volume: 156, Issue: 1, Pages: 217-225

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Abstract

Many migratory species depend on staging sites at which they refuel while on migration and effective protection of such habitats is crucial to their conservation Here we investigate the extent to which protected areas cover and ameliorate loss of tidal flats in East Asia the key staging habitat for threatened and declining shorebirds migrating through the East Asian–Australasian Flyway We discover rapid losses of the tidal flat ecosystem both inside −042  year−1 and outside −089  year−1 protected areas In China tidal flats are well represented within protected areas 229  of current tidal flats occur within protected areas but habitat loss continued despite protection −055  year−1 inside −097  year−1 outside By contrast in South Korea where 121  of remaining tidal flat is in protected areas the rate of habitat loss outside protected areas was the highest in our study region −183  year−1 yet inside protected areas there was tidal flat aggradation +113  year−1 indicating either that protected area placement is biased away from vulnerable habitats or protected areas are highly effective in South Korea Tidal flats across our study area were lost most rapidly in internationally important sites for migratory shorebirds −166  year−1 suggesting that transformative land use change of coastal areas is occurring disproportionately in regions that are important for migratory birds We urge 1 improved management of existing protected areas in East Asia particularly in China 2 targeted designation of new protected areas in sites crucial for supporting migratory birds and 3 integrated decisionmaking that simultaneously plans for coastal development and coastal conservationWe thank R Ferrari D Melville J Mackinnon X Yan and Z Ma for advice and discussion This project was supported by an Australian Research Council Linkage Grant LP100200418 cofunded by the Queensland Department of Environment and Resource Management the Commonwealth Department of Sustainability Environment Water Population and Communities the Queensland Wader Study Group and the Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd Additional support was provided by Birds Queensland the Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Programme’s Threatened Species Recovery Hub and the CSIRO Climate Adaptation Flagship Landsat data are freely available from the US Geological Survey

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