Trend in Ecology &Evolution

Trend in Ecology &Evolution

Electronic Supplementary Material

Title: China’s degraded environment enters a new normal

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Figure S1 Map showingexamples of scale and magnitude of environment degradation across China.

Table S1 Examples of ecosystem regime shifts in China.

Previous state / New Normal / Region / References
Lake ecosystems / Clean water state dominated by submersed macropytes / Turbid, polluted water dominated by phytoplankton. Characterized by frequent alga blooms, invasive species, reduced aquatic biodiversity. / Middle-lower Yangtze River Basin, alpine lakes in west China. / [2-5]
Coastal ecosystems / Clean, healthy ecosystem / Eutrophication with frequent hypoxia event, red tides, jellyfish blooms, and macroalga bloom etc. / Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea, major river deltas / [7-10]
Fisheries / High trophic level, large-sized species with mature age structure and high diversity / Low trophic level, small-sized species with simple age structure. Some regions are now switched to fisheries of crustacean and mollusc. / Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, East China Sea. / [13-16]
Coral reef ecosystems / Coral dominated / Macroalgae dominated state, decreasing coral cover, frequent starfish outbreaks, fewer coral reef fishes. / Hainan Island, southern mainland coast, South China Sea / [1, 21, 22]
Alpine meadows / Meadows / Weedy shrubland with serious soil erosion and hydrological change. / Southwest China, Yunnan / [23]

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References:

1.Hughes, T.P., et al. (2013) The Wicked Problem of China's Disappearing Coral Reefs. Conservation Biology 27, 261-269.

2.Zou, R., et al. (2014) Exploring the Mechanism of Catastrophic Regime Shift in a Shallow Plateau Lake: A Three-Dimensional Water Quality Modeling Approach. In Developments in Environmental Modelling (Sven Erik Jørgensen, N.-B.C. and Fu-Liu, X., eds), pp. 411-435, Elsevier.

3.Xu, D., et al. (2014) Regime Shifts and Resilience of the Lake Taihu Social-Ecological System Under Long-term External Disturbance (1960s–2000s). CLEAN – Soil, Air, Water.

4.Wang, R., et al. (2012) Flickering gives early warning signals of a critical transition to a eutrophic lake state. Nature 492, 419-422.

5.Qin, B., et al. (2013) Lake eutrophication and its ecosystem response. Chinese Science Bulletin 58, 961-970.

6.Liu, D., et al. (2013) The world's largest macroalgal blom in the Yellow Sea, China: Formation and implications. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 129, 2-10.

7.Liu, D., et al. (2013) Palaeoecological analysis of phytoplankton regime shifts in response to coastal eutrophication. Marine Ecology Progress Series 475, 1-14.

8.Wang, J. and Wu, J. (2009) Occurrence and potential risks of harmful algal blooms in the East China Sea. Science of The Total Environment 407, 4012-4021.

9.Qiu, J. (2014) Coastal havoc boosts jellies. Nature 514, 545.

10.SFA (State Forestry Administration) (2011) A Bulletin of Status Quo of Desertification and Sandification in China.

11.MEP&MLR (Ministry of Environment Protection and Ministry of Land Resources of the People's Republic of China)(2014) Nationwide Soil Pollution Survey Report

12.MEP (Ministry of Environment Protection of the People's Republic of China) (2015) Air quality report of key regions and 74 major cities in China.

13.Shan, X., et al. (2013) Long-Term Changes in Fish Assemblage Structure in the Yellow River Estuary Ecosystem, China. Marine and Coastal Fisheries: Dynamics, Management, and Ecosystem Science 5, 65-78.

14.Jin, X.S., et al. (2013) Long-term changes in the fishery ecosystem structure of Laizhou Bay, China. Science China Earth Sciences 56, 366-374.

15.Li, Z., et al. (2011) Long-term variations in body length and age at maturity of the small yellow croaker (Larimichthys polyactis Bleeker, 1877) in the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea, China. Fisheries Research 110, 67-74.

16.Liu, M. and De Mitcheson, Y.S. (2008) Profile of a fishery collapse: Why mariculture failed to save the large yellow croaker. Fish and Fisheries 9, 219-242.

17.Zhang, Y.-Y., et al. (2014) A sea cucumber outbreak on a degraded coral reef in Sanya, China. Coral Reefs 33, 1077.

18.Yu, K.F. (2012) Coral reefs in the South China Sea: Their response to and records on past environmental changes. Science China Earth Sciences 55, 1217-1229.

19.Ma, Z., et al. (2014) Rethinking China's new great wall. Science 346, 912-914.

20.MEP (Ministry of Environment Protection of the People's Republic of China) (2015) Bulletin of China’s Environment state in 2014.

21.CGS&CAGS (China Geological Survey & Chinese Academy of Geological Science) (2013) Underground water pollution report in North China Plain.

22.Yao, T., et al. (2012) Different glacier status with atmospheric circulations in Tibetan Plateau and surroundings. Nature Climate Change 2, 663-667.

23.Brandt, J.S., et al. (2013) Regime shift on the roof of the world: Alpine meadows converting to shrublands in the southern Himalayas. Biological Conservation 158, 116-127.

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