Drought vulnerability among China's ungulates and mitigation offered by protected areas

Lyubing Zhang,Luke Gibson,Michela Pacifici,Binbin V Li

doi:10.1111/csp2.177

Abstract

AbstractOngoing perturbations in the global climate have triggered changes in the frequency or magnitude of extreme climatic events, including drought. Increasingly common or intense droughts have threatened ungulates. Intensifying trend of drought has been observed in China since the 1980s. We assessed drought vulnerability of 60 ungulate taxa distributed in China by synthesizing information on drought exposure and intrinsic vulnerability related to biological traits. In total, 27 taxa were identified as vulnerable to drought, which represent over half of the taxa assessed as threatened in the IUCN Red List and China's National Red List. We identified hotspots where a high number of drought‐vulnerable taxa are concentrated, including Northeast Himalayan subalpine conifer forests, alpine conifer and mixed forests of Nujiang‐Lancang Gorge, and Qionglai‐Minshan conifer forests, which are all located in Southwest China. We also assessed conservation efforts that China has allocated to ungulate taxa vulnerable to drought. Drought‐vulnerable taxa that are endemic to China have significantly lower coverage in China's National Nature Reserve system compared with nonvulnerable taxa. These findings reveal the gaps in existing conservation efforts and indicate possible improvements that might be needed to maintain species resistance in the face of increasing and intensifying drought impacts.

Highlights

Climate change poses increasing threats to biodiversity by inducing major environmental changes and compounding other ongoing threats (Dawson, Jackson, House, Prentice, & Mace, 2011; Mantyka-pringle, Martin, & Rhodes, 2012)
We collected information on exposure and species biological traits associated with intrinsic vulnerability, referring to species ability to withstand or adjust to drought impacts, to assess the risk of ungulate taxa being negatively affected by droughts that already took place
By examining exposure and intrinsic vulnerability, our study assessed drought vulnerability of ungulate taxa distributed in China and mapped hotspots of droughtvulnerable taxa, which would facilitate the management of relevant drought risks

Summary

| INTRODUCTION

Climate change poses increasing threats to biodiversity by inducing major environmental changes and compounding other ongoing threats (Dawson, Jackson, House, Prentice, & Mace, 2011; Mantyka-pringle, Martin, & Rhodes, 2012). In a recent assessment of the impacts of extreme climatic events, mammals were one of the most responsive taxa to drought events, and one third of the 37 relevant observational studies across the world reported >25% population declines (Maxwell et al, 2019). Among these observations, drought has been frequently recorded threatening the persistence of ungulate species by altering availability of food, water, and shelter (Frank & McNaughton, 1992; Ogutu, Piepho, Dublin, Bhola, & Reid, 2010; Folks et al, 2014).

| METHODS

| RESULTS

Findings

| DISCUSSION