Lu Y.L., Yang Y.F., Sun B., Yuan J.J., Yu M.Z., Stenseth N.C., Bullock J.M. and Obersteiner M.. 2020. Science Advances, 6(47):eabd0952.

Biodiversity is essential for the maintenance of ecosystem health and delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals. However, the drivers of biodiversity loss and the spatial variation in their impacts are poorly understood. Here, we explore the spatial-temporal distributions of threatened and declining (''biodiversity-loss'') species and find that these species are affected by multiple stressors, with climate and human activities being the fundamental shaping forces. There has been large spatial variation in the distribution of threatened species over China's provinces, with the biodiversity of Gansu, Guangdong, Hainan, and Shaanxi provinces severely reduced. With increasing urbanization and industrialization, the expansion of construction and worsening pollution has led to habitat retreat or degradation, and high proportions of amphibians, mammals, and reptiles are threatened. Because distributions of species and stressors vary widely across different climate zones and geographical areas, specific policies and measures are needed for preventing biodiversity loss in different regions.

Figure 1. Spatial variation in biodiversity loss. (A) Ratio of threatened species, encompassing IUCN Red List categories: Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN), and Vulnerable (VU). Provinces with a high proportion of threatened species are mainly found in southwest China, including Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guangxi, and Guizhou provinces. (B) Correlation between total number of species and total number of threatened species. There is a significant positive correlation between the number of threatened species and richness in different provinces. (C) Distribution range of threatened species significantly reduced during 2006-2018 compared with 1901-1980.

Figure 2.Climate change and human activities represented by local Geary cluster maps. (A) Local Geary cluster map of CO₂ and NO_X emissions. (B) Local Geary cluster map of eco-water, green gas emissions, and biodiversity-loss species.