Comparison of IUCN and Species Distribution Modeling-estimated Ranges of Shorebirds in Coastal Mainland China

Large areas of unsuitable habitat are often included within the extent of occurrence (EOO) of species, such as the EOO defined by the IUCN (EOOiucn), because the techniques used to estimate the EOO of species often depend on topological methods that do not account for ranges of environmentally suitable habitat. Assessments of the EOO of species are important because they are used in conservation status evaluations. We generated species distribution models in MaxEnt using citizen science data for 8 shorebird species inhabiting China’s coasts from multiple open data sources along with environmental variables to estimate the EOO of these species (EOOm). We then compared EOOm and EOOiucn and assessed the conservation status of these species according to the distribution of national nature reserves. EOOm was generally smaller than EOOiucn for the 8 shorebird species. Over 80 % of the EOOm of the 8 shorebird species did not fall within any national nature reserves, revealing large conservation gaps. Some of unprotected EOOm of these species overlaps with high human footprint area, especially in the Bohai Bay and the Jiangsu–Shanghai coastal region. Our results highlight the need for strengthened conservation effort for unprotected EOOm showing little overlap with national nature reserves, especially in the Bohai Bay and Jiangsu–Shanghai coastal regions. The extent of occurrence (EOO) defined by the IUCN and modeled by MaxEnt for 8 shorebird species in China. EOOiucn and EOOm represent the EOO defined by the IUCN and the EOO modeled by MaxEnt respectively. • Comparison of the EOO defined by the IUCN with that modeled by MaxEnt. • The EOO identified by MaxEnt was generally smaller than that defined by IUCN. • More than 80 % of the EOOm of the 8 shorebird species was unprotected. • Some of unprotected EOOm of these species overlaps with high human footprint area.