Three-decadal biomonitoring highlight the critical role of land buffer area in wetland biodiversity conservation

Three-decadal biomonitoring highlight the critical role of land buffer area in wetland biodiversity conservation | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Three-decadal biomonitoring highlight the critical role of land buffer area in wetland biodiversity conservation Yan Zhang, Daizhong Huang, Xiaowei Jin, Liqiang Li, Chouming Wang, and 5 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-2008146/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Ecosystems on earth have endured rapid changes over the last decades, but freshwater wetlands have disproportionally suffered biodiversity loss. Understanding the drivers of the decline of wetland ecosystems is the prerequisites for effective management scheme. However, a lack of long-term data on biological indicators like benthic macroinvertebrates have limited our understanding. Under the critical time window of the recent Anthropocene, China's longest in-situ aquatic biomonitoring data were combined with satellite imaging to construct profiles of some essential biodiversity variables of the Dongting Lake, a large Ramsar wetland in the Yangtze River basin. The results showed that the integrity of macroinvertebrate community systematically declined in the last three decades, accompanied by the stresses of lake eutrophication, climate warming and weakening of the connectivity between the Yangtze River and the lake. Unlike previously speculated attribution, the establishment of the Three Gorges Dam was found to only have a limited impact on the biodiversity loss of Dongting Lake. Changes in human land-use intensity in the surrounding terrestrial ecosystem, by increasing nutrient loading, were found to be the main mechanism resulting in the decline of macroinvertebrates. Biodiversity changes were most influenced by land-use within 1.5 km from the water body. The results highlight that to attenuate such a major local land-use effect, establishing a protected buffer area surrounding wetland ecosystems will help preserve biodiversity in the future. Anthropocene Ramsar wetland land-use change Three Gorges Dam biodiversity conservation Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-2008146","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":134873804,"identity":"910da7e5-880f-47c5-9812-4e9631bb9251","order_by":0,"name":"Yan Zhang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Nanjing University","correspondingAuthor":false,"submittingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yan","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhang","suffix":""},{"id":134873805,"identity":"ad1c6276-533e-4d75-b0ce-434527ebb73d","order_by":1,"name":"Daizhong Huang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Dongting Lake Eco-Environment Monitoring Centre of Hunan 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