A research team led by Dr. Duan Fei of the Natural History Museum of China, in collaboration with the Wildlife Ecology and Conservation Laboratory at Peking University, systematically evaluated and identified conservation priority areas for birds in China by integrating multidimensional biodiversity data. The findings, titled Birds as Biodiversity Beacons: Identifying Conservation Priority Areas through Multi-Dimensional Diversity in China, were published in the international journal Diversity in June 2025.

The study integrated the spatial patterns of three dimensions of diversity --species diversity, functional diversity, and phylogenetic diversity, and employed spatial conservation planning analyses to identify conservation priority areas across these three dimensions. The top 17% of overlapping priority areas were selected as the conservation priority areas for birds, covering approximately 1.40 × 10⁶ km², or 14.6% of China’s terrestrial area, and encompassing 1,298 bird species, representing about 89.8% of China’s total avian species. The study recommends focusing future conservation efforts on these areas, which primarily include northwestern Xinjiang, Yunnan, southeastern Tibet, eastern Hengduan Mountains, the southern Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau, southern Guangxi, western Guangdong, the middle and lower Yangtze River plain, the Bohai Rim region, southeastern coastal areas, Hainan Island, and Taiwan Island.

A comparison between the identified bird conservation priority areas in China and the current distribution of nature reserves revealed that only 8.1% of the priority areas are covered by existing reserves, indicating significant gaps in the protected area network. According to the “Three Conditions” management framework proposed for post-2020 biodiversity conservation targets, these protection gaps are predominantly in cities, farms and shared landscapes. The study suggests that a combination of approaches—such as establishing new reserves, expanding existing reserves, extending the protected-area network, and widely implementing Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs)—should be considered within the Three Conditions framework to enhance the overall effectiveness of bird biodiversity conservation in China.

Fig. 1 Overlay analysis of priority areas of bird diversity from three dimensions in China

A. Overlap areas of the top 17% rank grids from three diversity dimensions

B. The Venn diagram shows the proportion of land surface overlapping areas in the top 17% of priority areas in the three dimensions

Fig. 2 Comparison of multi-dimensional diversity conservation priority areas of birds in China with current nature reserves. The current network of protected areas (green), overlapping across the top 17% priority areas for species diversity, phylogenetic diversity, and functional diversity (brown), and areas of overlap that are already protected (orange).