Human-transformed agricultural and aquacultural ponds, collectively referred to as “dike-pond systems”, play a crucial role in ensuring food security but also contribute to the widespread loss of natural wetlands. However, spatially and temporally explicit patterns of dike-pond systems have not been thoroughly documented globally. Here, we map the distribution of dike-pond systems over both global inland and coastal regions during three periods (1984 to 2000, 2001 to 2010, 2011 to 2020) using 30-m resolution satellite observations. Results show that the total area of dike-pond systems was 132,886 km globally, with about 2/3 contributed from inland wetlands. From 1984 to 2020, the net gain of inland dike-pond systems (26,385 km or 92.7%) was 1.6 times that of coastal wetlands (16,371 km or 83.3%), due primarily to reduced coastal dike-pond systems in the last decade. We identified significant contributions of dike-pond systems to fishery production, and further revealed occurrences of dike-pond systems within protected areas. Our study highlights the importance of prioritizing the conservation and management of more intensively inland dike-pond systems, and our global synthesis provides a critical benchmark for assessing potential consequences of dike-pond system and for future restoration efforts.

中文翻译：

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人类改造的堤坝-池塘系统的全球测绘


人工改造的农业和水产养殖池塘统称为“堤坝池塘系统”，在确保粮食安全方面发挥着至关重要的作用，但也造成了自然湿地的广泛丧失。然而，堤坝-池塘系统在空间和时间上的明确模式尚未在全球范围内得到彻底记录。在这里，我们利用 30 米分辨率的卫星观测结果绘制了三个时期（1984 年至 2000 年、2001 年至 2010 年、2011 年至 2020 年）全球内陆和沿海地区堤坝-池塘系统的分布图。结果表明，全球堤塘系统总面积为132,886平方公里，其中约2/3来自内陆湿地。从1984年到2020年，内陆堤坝-池塘系统的净增益（26,385平方公里或92.7%）是沿海湿地（16,371平方公里或83.3%）的1.6倍，这主要是由于过去十年沿海堤坝-池塘系统的减少。我们确定了堤坝-池塘系统对渔业生产的重大贡献，并进一步揭示了保护区内堤坝-池塘系统的出现情况。我们的研究强调了优先考虑更密集的内陆堤坝-池塘系统的保护和管理的重要性，我们的全球综合报告为评估堤坝-池塘系统的潜在后果和未来的恢复工作提供了关键基准。