Date:
June 9, 2020
Source:
Princeton University
Princeton
University researchers may have solved a long-standing mystery in conservation
that could influence how natural lands are designated for the preservation of
endangered species.
Around
the world, the migratory shorebirds that are a conspicuous feature of coastal
habitats are losing access to the tidal flats -- the areas between dry land and
the sea -- they rely on for food as they travel and prepare to breed. But a
major puzzle has been that species' populations are plummeting several times
faster than the rate at which coastal ecosystems are lost to development.
Nowhere
is the loss of tidal flats and shorebird species more acute than along the East
Asia-Australasian Flyway (EAAF). An estimated 5 million migratory birds from 55
species use the flyway to travel from southern Australia to northern Siberia
along the rapidly developing coast of China -- where tidal flats can be more
than 6 miles wide -- at which birds stop to rest and refuel.
Since the
1980s, the loss of tidal flats around the Yellow Sea has averaged 1.2% per
year. Yet, the annual loss of the most endangered bird species has averaged
between 5.1 and 7.5%, with populations of species such as the critically
endangered spoon-billed sandpipers (Calidris pygmaea) climbing as high
as 26% each year.
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