Habitat Assessment for Giant Pandas in the Qinling Mountain Region of China |
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Authors: | TIAN-TIAN FENG FRANK T VAN MANEN NA-XUN ZHAO MING LI FU-WEN WEI |
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Institution: | 1. United States Geological Survey, Leetown Science Center, University of Tennessee, Department of Forestry, Wildlife and Fisheries, 274 Ellington Plant Sciences Building, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA;2. Memphis Zoological Society, 2000 Prentiss Place, Memphis, TN 38112, USA;3. Foping Nature Reserve, Foping County, Shaanxi, 723400, People's Republic of China;4. Key Lab of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Datun Road, Chaoyang, Beijing 100101, People's Republic of China |
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Abstract: | ABSTRACT Because habitat loss and fragmentation threaten giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca), habitat protection and restoration are important conservation measures for this endangered species. However, distribution and value of potential habitat to giant pandas on a regional scale are not fully known. Therefore, we identified and ranked giant panda habitat in Foping Nature Reserve, Guanyinshan Nature Reserve, and adjacent areas in the Qinling Mountains of China. We used Mahalanobis distance and 11 digital habitat layers to develop a multivariate habitat signature associated with 247 surveyed giant panda locations, which we then applied to the study region. We identified approximately 128 km2of giant panda habitat in Foping Nature Reserve (43.6% of the reserve) and 49 km2in Guanyinshan Nature Reserve (33.6% of the reserve). We defined core habitat areas by incorporating a minimum patch-size criterion (5.5 km2) based on home-range size. Percentage of core habitat area was higher in Foping Nature Reserve (41.8% of the reserve) than Guanyinshan Nature Reserve (26.3% of the reserve). Within the larger analysis region, Foping Nature Reserve contained 32.7% of all core habitat areas we identified, indicating regional importance of the reserve. We observed a negative relationship between distribution of core areas and presence of roads and small villages. Protection of giant panda habitat at lower elevations and improvement of habitat linkages among core habitat areas are important in a regional approach to giant panda conservation. |
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Keywords: | Ailuropoda melanoleuca China Geographic Information System (GIS) giant panda habitat conservation habitat model habitat use Mahalanobis distance Qinling Mountains |
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