Non-native species in marine protected areas: Global distribution patterns.

Marine protected areas (MPAs) across various countries have contributed to safeguarding coastal and marine environments. Despite these efforts, marine non-native species (NNS) continue to threaten biodiversity and ecosystems, even within MPAs. Currently, there is a lack of comprehensive studies on the inventories, distribution patterns, and effect factors of NNS within MPAs.

Non-native fish of the Upper Irtysh and the Ulungur Rivers in China.

Background: The Chinese section of the Irtysh River Basin and the Ulungur River Basin, two major river basins of the Altay region, are located at the northwest of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China. As an international river, the Chinese section has seven state-level protected fish and seven local-level protected species as well. Many more commercial species have been introduced from eastern China and other countries, accompanied by some low-value and small-sized fish in recent decades.

Quantifying global colonization pressures of alien vertebrates from wildlife trade.

The global trade in live wildlife elevates the risk of biological invasions by increasing colonization pressure (the number of alien species introduced to an area). Yet, our understanding of species traded as aliens remains limited. We created a comprehensive global database on live terrestrial vertebrate trade and use it to investigate the number of traded alien species, and correlates of establishment richness for aliens.

A data set of the crackdown on cross-border wildlife crimes in China, 2014-2020.

Wildlife crimes that involve smuggling threaten national security and biodiversity, cause regional conflicts, and hinder economic development, especially in developing countries with abundant wildlife resources. Over the past few decades, significant headway has been made in combating wildlife smuggling and the related illegal domestic trade in China. Previous studies on the wildlife smuggling trade were based mainly on customs punishment and confiscation data.

Animal invaders threaten protected areas worldwide.

Protected areas are the cornerstone of biodiversity conservation. However, alien species invasion is an increasing threat to biodiversity, and the extent to which protected areas worldwide are resistant to incursions of alien species remains poorly understood. Here, we investigate establishment by 894 terrestrial alien animals from 11 taxonomic groups including vertebrates and invertebrates across 199,957 protected areas at the global scale.

Risks of Biological Invasion on the Belt and Road.

China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is an unprecedented global development program that involves nearly half of the world's countries [1]. It not only will have economic and political influences, but also may generate multiple environmental challenges and is a focus of considerable academic and public concerns [2-6]. The Chinese government expects BRI to be a sustainable development, paying equal attention to economic development and environmental conservation [7].