Ecological impacts of unsustainable sand mining: Urgent lessons learned from a critically endangered freshwater cetacean

Sand production, tripled in the last two decades, is an emerging concern for global biodiversity. However, the paucity of sand mining data worldwide prevents understanding the extent of sand mining impacts and how it affects wildlife populations and ecosystems, which is critical for timely mitigation and conservation actions. Integrating remote sensing and field surveys over fourteen years, we investigated mining impacts on the critically endangered Yangtze finless porpoise (Neophocaena asiaeorientalis asiaeorientalis) in Dongting Lake, China. We found that sand mining presented a consistent, widespread disturbance in Dongting Lake. The porpoise strongly avoided mining sites, especially the areas subjected to higher mining intensity. The extensive sand mining significantly contracted the porpoise’s range and restricted their habitat use in the lake. Water traffic for sand transportation further blocked the species’ river-lake movements, affecting the population connectivity. In addition...