Fig. 5: Effects of the mariculture ban in Leizhou Dongli (Site 39), southern China, on molluscs and great knots.
a Location of the site. The map was produced in R using the sf package60. b The changes in mollusc densities before and after the ban (Commercial species: H = 3.86, p = 0.049. Non-commercial species: H = 2.33, p = 0.13.), small plots display paired differences in molluscs counts before and after the ban for large (length >20 mm) and small (length <20 mm) size groups, as well as for commercial and non-commercial categories, respectively (large × commercial: H = 3.857, p = 0.049, n = 3 vs 3. large × non-commercial: H = 0.44, p = 0.51, n = 3 vs 3. small × commercial: H = 3.86, p = 0.049, n = 3 vs 3. small × non-commercial: H = 0.43, p = 0.51, n = 3 vs 3). The data are shown in Mean ± S.D., and the difference is significant when the p-value is smaller than 0.05 (Kruskal–Wallis two-sided tests). The shellfish photo was provided by He-Bo Peng. c The changes in number (red points; H = 3.857, p = 0.049, n = 3 vs 3) and intake rate (black points; H = 44.58, p = 2.44 × 10⁻11, n = 3 vs 3) of great knots before and after the ban, intake rates are presented as Mean ± S.D. Shorebird photo was provided by He-Bo Peng. d Relationship between commercial mollusc density and great knot numbers: least-squares regression (two-sided), β = 0.78 ± 0.24 (SE), t(df = 4) = 3.26, 95% CI [0.12, 1.45], p = 0.03, R² = 0.73, n = 6. e Relationship between commercial mollusc density and great knot intake rate: least-squares regression (two-sided), β = 3.35 × 10⁻⁴ ± 6.38 × 10⁻⁵ (SE), t(df = 4) = 5.25, 95% CI [1.58 × 10⁻⁴, 5.12 × 10⁻⁴], p = 0.006, R² = 0.87, n = 6. The relation is significant (solid line) when the p-value is smaller than 0.05. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.
