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<p>Protected areas (PAs) are cornerstones of biodiversity conservation, harbouring key mammal species such as apex predators that are important in maintaining trophic cascades and contribute to ecosystem resilience. However, whether PAs have preserved historical wildlife assemblages remains poorly quantified, mainly due to a lack of comparable data from historical and current periods. Here we used comprehensive data from historical investigations during the 1950s and 1970s, as well as current surveys based on 8,300 camera traps between 2008 and 2021 across 85 PAs in China, to assess range contractions of 82 large- and medium-bodied mammals. We found that carnivores disappeared from 59.4% of their historical sites, a rate much higher than that observed in ungulates (37.2%). Moreover, while 52.9% of PAs retained more than 70% of their ungulate species, over 70% of PAs lost over half of their carnivore species, with PAs in southern China being range contraction hotspots, particularly for carnivore species with larger body sizes and shorter generation lengths. Our findings reveal widespread range contraction of carnivores in China’s PAs compared with historical periods, driven primarily by legacy effects of large-scale anthropogenic disturbances and human–wildlife conflict, necessitating initiatives to maintain and restore historical assemblages of carnivores alongside habitat protection.</p>

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Widespread range contraction of carnivores in protected areas of China

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月27日

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  • Jiekun He,
  • Ludan Zhang,
  • Jiehua Yu,
  • Fang Wang,
  • Zhishu Xiao,
  • Jiajia Liu

摘要

Protected areas (PAs) are cornerstones of biodiversity conservation, harbouring key mammal species such as apex predators that are important in maintaining trophic cascades and contribute to ecosystem resilience. However, whether PAs have preserved historical wildlife assemblages remains poorly quantified, mainly due to a lack of comparable data from historical and current periods. Here we used comprehensive data from historical investigations during the 1950s and 1970s, as well as current surveys based on 8,300 camera traps between 2008 and 2021 across 85 PAs in China, to assess range contractions of 82 large- and medium-bodied mammals. We found that carnivores disappeared from 59.4% of their historical sites, a rate much higher than that observed in ungulates (37.2%). Moreover, while 52.9% of PAs retained more than 70% of their ungulate species, over 70% of PAs lost over half of their carnivore species, with PAs in southern China being range contraction hotspots, particularly for carnivore species with larger body sizes and shorter generation lengths. Our findings reveal widespread range contraction of carnivores in China’s PAs compared with historical periods, driven primarily by legacy effects of large-scale anthropogenic disturbances and human–wildlife conflict, necessitating initiatives to maintain and restore historical assemblages of carnivores alongside habitat protection.