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Role of New Nature Reserve in Assisting Endangered Species Conservation - Case Study of Giant Pandas in the Northern Qionglai Mountains, China

The creation of nature reserves is the most direct way to save endangered species populations and their habitat. Development of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) nature reserve network in China was initiated in the 1960s, though the effort to create new reserves boomed considerably after the...

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Autores principales: Guan, Tian-Pei, Owens, Jacob R., Gong, Ming-Hao, Liu, Gang, Ouyang, Zhi-Yun, Song, Yan-Ling
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4988719/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27532870
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159738
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author Guan, Tian-Pei
Owens, Jacob R.
Gong, Ming-Hao
Liu, Gang
Ouyang, Zhi-Yun
Song, Yan-Ling
author_facet Guan, Tian-Pei
Owens, Jacob R.
Gong, Ming-Hao
Liu, Gang
Ouyang, Zhi-Yun
Song, Yan-Ling
author_sort Guan, Tian-Pei
collection PubMed
description The creation of nature reserves is the most direct way to save endangered species populations and their habitat. Development of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) nature reserve network in China was initiated in the 1960s, though the effort to create new reserves boomed considerably after the year 2000. Given this rapid development of protected areas in panda habitats, and the potential conflicting interests between conservation administrations and local economic development, it is essential to assess the role of new nature reserves in the overall giant panda conservation effort and reserve network. We utilized data from national giant panda surveys conducted in 2000 and 2012 to compare the size, spatial use, and distribution of panda populations, as well as the habitat suitability and connectivity in the Northern Qionglai Mountains between the two survey years. Our results show that although the total giant panda population in the study area did not change remarkably, local changes did occur. Most notably, the population in Wolong Nature Reserve declined by 27.3% (N = 39) and the population in Caopo Nature Reserve increased by 71.4% (N = 29) over the 12-year study period. We also found habitat suitability and availability decreased in both Wolong (12.4%) and Caopo (7.4%), but that the relative density of giant pandas declined (19.2%) and increased (84.6%) at each site, respectively. The distance between centers of high IUA were more distant in 2012 (14.1±1.9km) than that in 2000 (6.1±0.9km; t = -7.4, df = 5, p = 0.001), showing a scattered spatial pattern. Habitat availability decreased by 42% within the corridor between the two reserves, however panda occurrences in the corridor increased 24.6%. Compared to the total number of encounters, the proportion of the corridor increased 45.76%. Our results show the importance and success of the newly established Caopo to the conservation of giant pandas, and how crucial it is to identify and repair reserve corridors. Furthermore, we propose criteria for future nature reserve network management and investment, which is applicable for other endangered species conservation practices.
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spelling pubmed-49887192016-08-29 Role of New Nature Reserve in Assisting Endangered Species Conservation - Case Study of Giant Pandas in the Northern Qionglai Mountains, China Guan, Tian-Pei Owens, Jacob R. Gong, Ming-Hao Liu, Gang Ouyang, Zhi-Yun Song, Yan-Ling PLoS One Research Article The creation of nature reserves is the most direct way to save endangered species populations and their habitat. Development of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) nature reserve network in China was initiated in the 1960s, though the effort to create new reserves boomed considerably after the year 2000. Given this rapid development of protected areas in panda habitats, and the potential conflicting interests between conservation administrations and local economic development, it is essential to assess the role of new nature reserves in the overall giant panda conservation effort and reserve network. We utilized data from national giant panda surveys conducted in 2000 and 2012 to compare the size, spatial use, and distribution of panda populations, as well as the habitat suitability and connectivity in the Northern Qionglai Mountains between the two survey years. Our results show that although the total giant panda population in the study area did not change remarkably, local changes did occur. Most notably, the population in Wolong Nature Reserve declined by 27.3% (N = 39) and the population in Caopo Nature Reserve increased by 71.4% (N = 29) over the 12-year study period. We also found habitat suitability and availability decreased in both Wolong (12.4%) and Caopo (7.4%), but that the relative density of giant pandas declined (19.2%) and increased (84.6%) at each site, respectively. The distance between centers of high IUA were more distant in 2012 (14.1±1.9km) than that in 2000 (6.1±0.9km; t = -7.4, df = 5, p = 0.001), showing a scattered spatial pattern. Habitat availability decreased by 42% within the corridor between the two reserves, however panda occurrences in the corridor increased 24.6%. Compared to the total number of encounters, the proportion of the corridor increased 45.76%. Our results show the importance and success of the newly established Caopo to the conservation of giant pandas, and how crucial it is to identify and repair reserve corridors. Furthermore, we propose criteria for future nature reserve network management and investment, which is applicable for other endangered species conservation practices. Public Library of Science 2016-08-17 /pmc/articles/PMC4988719/ /pubmed/27532870 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159738 Text en © 2016 Guan et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Guan, Tian-Pei
Owens, Jacob R.
Gong, Ming-Hao
Liu, Gang
Ouyang, Zhi-Yun
Song, Yan-Ling
Role of New Nature Reserve in Assisting Endangered Species Conservation - Case Study of Giant Pandas in the Northern Qionglai Mountains, China
title Role of New Nature Reserve in Assisting Endangered Species Conservation - Case Study of Giant Pandas in the Northern Qionglai Mountains, China
title_full Role of New Nature Reserve in Assisting Endangered Species Conservation - Case Study of Giant Pandas in the Northern Qionglai Mountains, China
title_fullStr Role of New Nature Reserve in Assisting Endangered Species Conservation - Case Study of Giant Pandas in the Northern Qionglai Mountains, China
title_full_unstemmed Role of New Nature Reserve in Assisting Endangered Species Conservation - Case Study of Giant Pandas in the Northern Qionglai Mountains, China
title_short Role of New Nature Reserve in Assisting Endangered Species Conservation - Case Study of Giant Pandas in the Northern Qionglai Mountains, China
title_sort role of new nature reserve in assisting endangered species conservation - case study of giant pandas in the northern qionglai mountains, china
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4988719/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27532870
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0159738
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