近日，美国杜兰大学Daniel A. Friess团队报道了在过去的四十年里，地球上的红树林出人意料地扩张和再生。相关论文于2026年6月4日发表在《科学》杂志上。

全球红树林因森林砍伐而迅速减少，但也通过自然再生和恢复得以重新生长。然而，其面积和冠层覆盖度的长期变化趋势仍缺乏精确量化。通过开发全球红树林年度面积与冠层覆盖度数据集，研究组发现，自20世纪80年代以来，红树林的损失（长期转换）与退化（冠层稀疏）均已减少，并在过去十年中很大程度上被自然再生和向海扩张所抵消。

因此，全球红树林面积自2010年左右已从净损失转为净增益，且从20世纪80年代到2023年仅发生微小变化（-0.5% ± 1.4%）。除面积变化外，持续存在的红树林还表现出持续的冠层积累。该发现揭示了这一高度受威胁生态系统被低估的恢复力，展示了早期保护的有效性，并强调停止砍伐应作为通过自然再生实现保护目标的优先事项。

附：英文原文

Title: Unexpected expansion and regrowth in Earth’s mangrove forests over the past four decades

Author: Zhen Zhang, Nicholas J. Murray, Xiao-Peng Song, Pete Bunting, Thomas A. Worthington, Lola Fatoyinbo, Dehua Mao, Mingming Jia, Virni Budi Arifanti, Toh Aung, San San Htay, Daniel A. Friess

Issue&Volume: 2026-06-04

Abstract: Global mangrove forests have disappeared rapidly because of deforestation but have also regrown through natural regeneration and restoration. Yet their long-term trends in extent and canopy cover remain poorly quantified. By developing a global dataset of annual mangrove extent and canopy cover, we show that losses (long-term conversion) and degradation (canopy thinning) have both reduced since the 1980s and have been largely offset by regeneration and seaward expansion in the past decade. Consequently, global mangrove extent has shifted from net loss to net gain since around 2010 and changed only marginally from the 1980s to 2023 (0.5% ± 1.4%). Beyond changes in extent, persistent mangroves exhibited sustained canopy accumulation. Our findings reveal the underestimated resilience of a highly threatened ecosystem, demonstrate early conservation effectiveness, and highlight halting deforestation as a priority for achieving conservation targets through natural regrowth.

DOI: aec9773

Source: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aec9773