Current marine protected areas mismatched hotspots of fish taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity in the coastal China Seas

Coastal fish biodiversity is indispensable for humanity, but it also faces multiple threats and needs protection. Knowledge of coastal fish biodiversity and retrospection on efficiencies of marine protected areas (MPAs) are both essential for effective coastal fish conservation. By compiling historical coastal fish investigation data, environmental data, functional traits, and phylogenetic information, Joint Species Distribution Modelling (JSDM) was applied to predict fish communities in the coastal China Seas. Spatial patterns of taxonomic diversity (TD), functional diversity (FD), and phylogenetic diversity (PD) were studied, and their congruencies were evaluated. Finally, the effectiveness of current MPA networks in terms of match/mismatch with TD, FD, and PD hotspots was assessed. The validated HMSC model confirmed that biodiversity hotspots in terms of fish TD, FD, and PD were found in the intersection zone between the East China Sea and the South China Sea. The congruence simultaneously among the hotspots of TD, FD, and PD was approximately 50% and the congruence pairwisely between TD and PD was higher than that between TD and FD or between FD and PD. Current MPA networks mismatched most of the biodiversity hotspots, and the matched areas (4.40%) were not significantly higher than expected. The matched areas between MPAs and TD hotspots were higher than those between MPAs and FD or between MPAs and PD. Coastal fish biodiversity hotspots of China occur in the intersection zone between the East China Sea and the South China Sea. Representation of current MPA networks is insufficient for fish biodiversity conservation, especially for FD and PD. This work provides a complete picture of fish biodiversity patterns in the coastal China Seas and gives feedback information on the effectiveness of current MPAs on coastal fish conservation, which will be important for systematic conservation reinforcement.