道路影响下野生动物廊道的选址——以大熊猫保护廊道为例

沿道路设置供野生动物迁徙、扩散和连接栖息地的廊道是应对道路干扰最有效的措施,科学选址则是野生动物廊道建设的前提,也是廊道研究的薄弱领域。以大熊猫廊道为例对野生动物廊道选址指标体系、方法和程序进行了探索,将栖息地特征、地形因素、植被可转化性、工程成本作为大熊猫廊道选址指标,基于Arcgis和栖息地格局、海拔、坡度、植被数据,为四川306省道椅子垭口段确定了两处大熊猫廊道位置,并用监测数据证明了所选位置具有较大的可行性和准确性。研究表明栖息地格局是廊道选址的重要基础,应侧重对地形因素的研究。研究为廊道选址方法和流程进行了示范,还对选址指标体系优化、提高选址的科学性进行了探讨,有助于推动野生动物廊道研究从理论探索走向实际应用。

The location of wildlife corridors under the impact of road disturbance: case study of a giant panda conservation corridor

Road construction has made it easier for human activity to greatly affect wildlife habitats and it has become the most urgent and essential issue for wildlife survival. Due to highway and railway construction, giant pandas have been isolated into 24 (33) separate populations and have disappeared in some areas. Responding to road disturbance by building corridors for wildlife migration allowing the expansion and connection of habitats along the road has become the most effective conservation measure. Previous corridor studies achieved a lot in determining its types, designing principles and procedures, but location was not studied. Due to the unscientific process of determining location, some "ecological roads" with wildlife corridors still do harm to wildlife. Scientific determination of location is the premise for the construction of a wildlife corridor which can function when located in the right place. Taking the case of the conservation corridor of the giant panda, our study focused on the indicators, method and procedure of site selection for the wildlife corridor. Based on previous studies on the indicators of wildlife corridors and the concept of crucial area in conservation biology, we proposed possible indicators for site selection of the giant panda corridor: habitat feature, topography, probability of vegetation transformation and construction cost feasibility. With the results of the habitat assessment, we employed Arcgis to analyze the habitat pattern, elevation, slope and vegetation according to the following procedure: the distance between suitable habitat on both sides of the road, topographic features of elevation and slope, and vegetation. We identified two ideal positions for a giant panda corridor along the Sichuan 306 provincial way of Yiziyakou. By testing with monitoring data and records, we found feces and trails in areas adjacent to our identified positions. It proves that the corridor selection position is feasible and reasonable. Our study found that the pattern of giant panda habitat had undergone great changes through the disturbance caused by the 306 provincial way in the study area, with a ten percent decline in the proportion of suitable habitat producing a 1.5 km wide isolated area without habitat along the road. It is shown to be necessary to build corridors for alleviating road impacts on these habitats. Our study also shows that habitat pattern is an important basis for corridor location and should focus on topographic factors, which cannot be transformed, among all the habitat factors. With differences in target species and protected animals, the indicators and threshold values of corridor location also need to be adjusted, enriched and optimized. We demonstrated a method and procedure for corridor location which can contribute further to the practical application of wildlife corridors using the theoretical research.