Dramatic improvements of terrestrial biodiversity in the Yangtze River Basin, China

China has launched unprecedented investments in conservation and restoration programmes to prevent soil erosion, protect forest ecosystems and biodiversity, and improve carbon sequestration. However, the impacts of socio-economic developments and large-scale conservation and restoration programmes on biodiversity are still unclear. Here, we analyzed the spatial-temporal trends of the optimized Living Planet Index (LPI) based on bird monitoring from 2011 to 2020 in 536 sites in the Yangtze River Basin (YRB), the third largest river in the world. We found that the LPI of all birds in the upper and middle reaches of the YRB increased by 7.80% and 7.64%, respectively, and terrestrial bird diversity showed an increasing trend in the whole watershed, owing to the huge investments of terrestrial conservation and restoration programmes. Increasing functional diversity of birds in YRB is indicative of enhanced ecosystem functioning. Almost 75% of the rare and endangered birds in the Yangtze River basin are protected. However, waterbird diversity mostly declined, notably by 14.40% in the lower reaches, likely because of insufficient conservation measures for and huge human pressures to wetlands. The significant improvements in terrestrial bird diversity indicate the success of post-2020 global targets as well as huge investments in biodiversity conservation, while the decline of waterbird diversity highlights the urgent need for further biodiversity protection for the world’s third largest river.