The average percent of species lost (PSL) ± standard deviation of 252 key protected vertebrates of 2,365 counties in the mainland of China from approximately 1950 to 2000.

<p>a, b, and c indicate significantly different taxon groups (<i>p</i> < 0.05, ANOVA).</p

Quantifying the effects of climate and anthropogenic change on regional species loss in China - Fig 1

<p><b>Percent of species lost (PSL) in 2,365 counties in China for all species (A), mammals (B), birds (C), and amphibians & reptiles (D).</b> The color range indicates PSL; empty area indicates missing values.</p

Linear interactive effects between temperature change (T), precipitation change (P), human population density change (H), species richness (B) on the proportion of species lost of all vertebrates, mammals, birds and amphibian and reptile (R&A).

<p>Linear interactive effects between temperature change (T), precipitation change (P), human population density change (H), species richness (B) on the proportion of species lost of all vertebrates, mammals, birds and amphibian and reptile (R&A).</p

Main effects of temperature change index (T), precipitation change index (P), human population density change index (H), species richness (B) on the proportion of species lost of all vertebrates, mammals, birds and amphibians and reptiles (R&A) from the 252 key protected species in mainland of China.

<p>Main effects of temperature change index (T), precipitation change index (P), human population density change index (H), species richness (B) on the proportion of species lost of all vertebrates, mammals, birds and amphibians and reptiles (R&A) from the 252 key protected species in mainland of China.</p

Quantifying the effects of climate and anthropogenic change on regional species loss in China

<div><p>Human-induced environmental and climate change are widely blamed for causing rapid global biodiversity loss, but direct estimation of the proportion of biodiversity lost at local or regional scales are still infrequent. This prevents us from quantifying the main and interactive effects of anthropogenic environmental and climate change on species loss. Here, we demonstrate that the estimated proportion of species loss of 252 key protected vertebrate species at a county level of China during the past half century was 27.2% for all taxa, 47.7% for mammals, 28.8% for amphibians and reptiles and 19.8% for birds. Both human population increase and species richness showed significant positive correlations with species loss of all taxa combined, mammals, birds, and amphibians and reptiles. Temperature increase was positively correlated with all-taxa and bird species loss. Precipitation increase was negatively correlated with species loss of birds. Human population change and species richness showed more significant interactions with the other correlates of species loss. High species richness regions had higher species loss under the drivers of human environmental and climate change than low-richness regions. Consequently, ongoing human environmental and climate changes are expected to perpetuate more negative effects on the survival of key vertebrate species, particularly in high-biodiversity regions.</p></div