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Assessing Intertidal Populations of the Invasive European Green Crab
Published on: September 16, 2020
Safeguarding global terrestrial vertebrate species from future sea-level rise
Zhong-Wen Jiang1, Heng-Bin Xiao1, Jeffrey O Hanson2
1School of Ecology, Shenzhen Campus of Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Sea-level rise (SLR) threatens terrestrial biodiversity, yet its spatiotemporal and species-specific impacts remain unclear. Integrating relative SLR projections across five Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) with Area of Habitat (AOH) maps for 34,120 terrestrial vertebrate species, we project species exposed to SLR will increase from up to 13,680 in 2050 to 15,324 by 2100, including 57-63% of birds, 47-52% of mammals, 28-36% of reptiles, and 20-24% of amphibians. In Southeast Asia, inland inundation areas support high richness. Under SSP5-8.5, species facing >10% habitat inundation surges from 18 in 2050 to 109 by 2100, with reptiles and already threatened species overrepresented. Safeguarding SLR refugia, the non-inundated habitats for exposed species, is critical, yet over 96% lie outside protected areas, demanding early international action.
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