Evaluating conservation effectiveness of nature reserves established for surrogate species: Case of a giant panda nature reserve in Qinling Mountains, China

Many nature reserves are established to protect the habitat needs of particular endangered species of interest but their effec-tiveness for protecting other species is questionable.In this study,this effectiveness was evaluated in a nature reserve network located in the Qinling Mountains,Shaanxi Province,China.The network of reserves was established mainly for the conservation of the giant panda,a species considered as a surrogate for the conservation of many other endangered species in the region.The habitat suitability of nine protected species,including the giant panda,was modeled by using Maximum Entropy（MAXENT） and their spatial congruence was analyzed.Habitat suitability of these species was also overlapped with nature reserve boundaries and their management zones（i.e.,core,buffer and experimental zones）.Results show that in general the habitat of the giant panda constitutes a reasonable surrogate of the habitat of other protected species,and giant panda reserves protect a relatively high proportion of the habitat of other protected species.Therefore,giant panda habitat conservation also allows the conservation of the habitat of other protected species in the region.However,a large area of suitable habitat was excluded from the nature reserve network.In addition,four species exhibited a low proportion of highly suitable habitat inside the core zones of nature reserves.It suggests that a high proportion of suitable habitat of protected species not targeted for conservation is located in the experimental and buffer zones,thus,is being affected by human activities.To increase their conservation effectiveness,nature reserves and their management zones need to be re-examined in order to include suitable habitat of more endangered species.The procedures described in this study can be easily implemented for the conservation of many endangered species not only in China but in many other parts of the world.     

Heterogeneity-diversity Relationships in Natural Areas of Yunnan,China

Understanding regional environmental heterogeneity(EH) and biodiversity relationships(heterogeneity-diversity relationships: HDRs) is the first step toward coupling environmental variables with biodiversity surrogates into regional systematic conservation planning. However, there is no universal method for determining regional HDRs that considers various environmental variables and biodiversity in different regions. This study selected 32 nature reserves as natural areas in Yunnan, China, to examine regional HDRs in Yunnan. We calculated 17 EH parameters(of soil, topography, and climate) and three(ecosystem, plant, and animal) biodiversity indices in the nature reserves. By examining the explanatory power of each EH parameter and area of the nature reserve, we identified the primary parameters and constructed an optimal model for each biodiversity index. The explanatory powers of these parameters varied for each biodiversity index, and those of climatic parameters were generally higher than soil and topographic heterogeneity ones. Heterogeneity of the temperature annual range, followed by area and heterogeneity of soil type, were important parameters for ecosystem diversity of Yunnan and the optimal model explained 56.9%. Plant diversity was explained 54.5% by its optimal model, consisting of heterogeneity of precipitation of the coldest quarter and annual precipitation. Heterogeneity of temperature annual range was important for animal diversity in Yunnan and explained 29.6% of its optimal model. This study suggests that EH parameters can be an effective surrogate for biodiversity, therefore, we suggested that the significance and role of climatically heterogeneous regions for the conservation of biodiversity in Yunnan should be further studied in the future.     

ASSESSMENT OF INDIRECT USE VALUES OF FOREST BIODIVERSITY IN YAOLUOPING NATIONAL NATURE RESERVE, ANHUI PROVINCE

1INTRODUCTIONForestbiodiversityprovidesawiderangeofindirectbenefitstohumanbeing.Whiletheremaybelittlecon-sensusonwhetherthevariouselementsofforestbiodi-versitycanbevaluedineconomicterms, itisincreas-inglyrecognizedthatthesevaluesandtheroleofbio-diversityinmaintainingecologicalservicesareessen-tialtothehumankind.Thenotionofindirectusevalueofbiodiversityhasbeenassociatedwithaminimumlevelofecosysteminfrastructure, withoutwhichtherewouldnotbethegoodsandservicesprovidedbyit(FARNWORTHetal.,1…     

Coupling Relationship Analysis on Households′ Production Behaviors and Their Influencing Factors in Nature Reserves:A Structural Equation Model

A households′production behavior directly influences the quality of the environment and determines the successful development of nature reserves.Meanwhile,the households′production behaviors are complicated by interrelated factors,such as protection attitudes,resource endowment,and family wealth.This research evaluated households near the Crested Ibis National Nature Reserve in Shaanxi Province,acquiring data from 436 households around Yang County and Ningshan County in the south slope of Qinling Mountains,China.Based on the collected data,we developed a structural equation model to evaluate the coupling relationships among households′ protection attitudes,production behaviors,resource endowment,and family wealth.The results showed that:1) households with great resource endowment had more negative attitudes,probably due to their greater protection costs;2) the households with higher education levels had worse protection attitudes;3) the households with more family wealth were likely to use fewer fertilizers,pesticides,and firewood;4) the households with more resource endowment showed less production and management behaviors;5) the enhancement of households’ attitudes improved production behaviors to protection the environment,but the effects were not statistically significant.Our results provide a basis for the government’s protection policy making,exploring the effective management measures that are beneficial for both nature reserve management and community development.     

Spatial correlation and ecological characteristics analysis of management area for biodiversity conservation and relevant regionalization

Formulation of different ecological zone plans according to the corresponding protection targets and the necessity of proper conservation policy is one of the measures to achieve the goal of ecological conservation in China.In order to clarify the interrelation among key ecological zone plans,this paper carried out the research on spatial relation of priority areas of biodiversity conservation and three key ecological areas（key ecological function areas,key regions of ecological service function,national nature reserves） and the research on ecological conditions,based on multi-scale ecological spatial theme information,which incorporates elements like ecologi-cal quality and type,and by the aid of spatial information analysis and GIS modeling.The results showed a contrastively fine spatial consistency with 68.8% of priority areas of biodiversity conservation overlapping with three key ecological areas.Although the envi-ronment in priority areas of biodiversity conservation were in good conditions,protection pressure is also increasing,powerful supervi-sion and protection should not be ignored.The environmental conditions in the overlapping areas,as a whole,were superior to those in the non-overlapping areas.Since two areas have different characteristics,targeted protection measures should be formulated based on this difference,which will be very important for biodiversity conservation in priority areas of biodiversity conservation.     

Optimizing hotspot areas for ecological planning and management based on biodiversity and ecosystem services

The significance of biodiversity and ecosystem services are gradually recognized by human as an approach towards sustainability, so it is important to understand relationships and congruence between them to support conservation planning, especially in the hotspot areas with a prominent role in conservation. However, the management of most conservation hotspots mainly focused on biodiversity, and rarely concerned with ecosystem services. With the aim of proposing criteria for conservation strategies that contribute to the optimization of biodiversity and ecosystem services, in this study, a Geographic Information System(GIS)-based approach was designed to estimate and map the biodiversity and ecosystem services in Chongqing Municipality of China. Furthermore, the distributions of hotspot areas for biodiversity and ecosystem services were mapped based on the relationship between cumulative ecosystem services and areas. Finally the statistical analysis was processed focused on specific conservation objectives. The results showed that hotspot areas can conserve the most biodiversity but with the least ecosystem services under the conservation plans target to biodiversity conservation. In contrast, depending on the ecosystem services of interest, hotspot areas can conserve the largest ecosystem services but with the least biodiversity. By integrating biodiversity and ecosystem services into conservation plan, we found that the conservation and regeneration of these small areas, would contribute to a conservation of 44% of the biodiversity hotspot and 14%–42% of the ecosystem services hotspot. Moreover, the current nature reserve selection was not maximize the biodiversity and ecosystem services compared to integration strategy, indicating that hotspot areas conservation and selection is vital for optimization protection of biodiversity and ecosystem services, and has practical significance for natural resources and ecosystem management.     

Stability of Land-use/Land-cover in National Nature Reserves of Jilin Province,China

National nature reserves are an important part of classification management on ecological protection in China.Taking the na-tional nature reserves of Jilin Prov...     

Evaluation of ecological effectiveness of protected areas in Northwest China

Protected areas (PAs) have experienced explosive growth in Northwest China over the last three decades, but their effectiveness in representing regional ecological system diversity has not attracted considerable attention. Low effectiveness would exacerbate the conservation-development conflicts, particularly those that arise as a result of the Great Western Development Strategy (GWDS). Thus, an assessment of the effectiveness of the PA network has become quite important. We proposed natural vegetation communities to represent regional ecological system diversities, and proposed Global 200 Priority Ecoregions, Important Bird Areas, and ecosystem function regions to represent important conservation areas. To determine their effectiveness, we studied the extent to which ecological system diversities and important conservation areas are represented by the existing 96 PAs. Our results indicated that the total coverage of vegetation communities in PAs in Northwest China is not sufficiently comprehensive. As the PA system has expanded, the growth in the total area of the PAs has been greater than that of their vegetation community richness. While most of the important conservation areas are covered by PAs, some regions have not yet reached the 10% threshold; further, PAs are distributed unevenly and conservation gaps remain in the region. Therefore, these regions should receive more attention when planning new PAs. It is vital that more biodiversity datasets and assessment of ecosystem function regions are integrated in order to provide a basis for the government to formulate appropriate protection and development strategies.     

Forest carbon storage and tree carbon pool dynamics under natural forest protection program in northeastern China

The Natural Forest Protection(NFP) program is one of the Six Key Forestry Projects which were adopted by the Chinese Government since the 1980s to address important natural issues in China. It advanced to protecting and restoring the structures and functions of the natural forests through sustainable forest management. However, the role of forest carbon storage and tree carbon pool dynamics since the adoption of the NFP remains unknown. To address this knowledge gap, this study calculated forest carbon storage(tree, understory, forest floor and soil) in the forest region of northeastern(NE) China based on National Forest Inventory databases and field investigated databases. For tree biomass, this study utilized an improved method for biomass estimation that converts timber volume to total forest biomass; while for understory, forest floor and soil carbon storage, this study utilized forest type-specific mean carbon densities multiplied by their areas in the region. Results showed that the tree carbon pool under the NFP in NE China functioned as a carbon sink from 1998 to 2008, with an increase of 6.3 Tg C/yr, which was mainly sequestrated by natural forests(5.1 Tg C/yr). At the same time, plantations also acted as a carbon sink, reflecting an increase of 1.2 Tg C/yr. In 2008, total carbon storage in forests covered by the NFP in NE China was 4603.8 Tg C, of which 4393.3 Tg C was stored in natural forests and 210.5 Tg C in planted forests. Soil was the largest carbon storage component, contributing 69.5%–77.8% of total carbon storage; followed by tree and forest floor, accounting for 16.3%–23.0% and 5.0%–6.5% of total carbon storage, respectively. Understory carbon pool ranged from 1.9 to 42.7 Tg C, accounting for only 0.9% of total carbon storage.     

Study on the sustainable development of wetland resources in the Ussuri / Wusuli River basin

1 INTRODUCTION The Ussuri / Wusuli River watershed is located in the southeast part of Heilongjiang Province of China, which joins remote regions of Russia. The watershed consists of approximately 26 000 000 ha, which is about two thirds of the watershed ecosystem in Russia, one  third in China. The Ussuri River forms part of the border between Russia and China, the shared border stretches more than 1100 km. Khanka/Xingkai Lake lies within both China and Russia. Its total area …     

汶川地震前后龙溪虹口自然保护区景观多样性的遥感评估

 本文以植被类型与土地利用类型为主要依据,建立四川龙溪-虹口自然保护区景观分类体系,对汶川地震前后的两期Landsat TM影像进行了解译,得到其地震前后的景观空间格局,并对研究区地震前后景观变化特征进行分析,得到:(1)震后研究区景观斑块总数增加了2.36倍,景观破碎化严重。阔叶林与针叶林组成的森林景观呈片段化,优势度下降;阔叶林、稀疏植被,以及草甸成为新的优势景观。(2)震后 Shannon多样性指数与周长-面积分维数分别上升11%和7%,说明研究区景观异质性与多样性增多,景观结构更复杂。优势度指数和聚集度指数下降30%,表示研究区内大的景观斑块减少,景观类型聚集度下降,连通性下降。(3)研究区生境破碎,生物多样性维持功能减弱;植被覆盖度降低,边缘生境增加,水源涵养功能减弱、水土流失风险加剧;景观结构受损,生态屏障功能减弱。其表明地震及其次生灾害作为自然干扰因子,改变了研究区景观的结构与格局,破坏了珍稀动植物的适宜生境,对研究区珍稀濒危物种与自然生态系统造成了严重威胁,将对区域生态环境与生物多样性造成重要影响。     

Remote sensing analysis of mangrove distribution and dynamics in Zhanjiang from 1991 to 2011

Mangrove forests provide valuable societal and ecological services and goods. However, they have been experiencing high annual rates of loss in many parts of the world. In order to evaluate a long-term wetland conservation strategy that compromises urban development with comprehensive wetland ecosystem management, remote sensing techniques were used to analyze the changing mangrove distribution in the Zhanjiang Mangrove Forest National Nature Reserve. Between 1991 and 2000, the mangrove area within the study region declined from 2 264.9 to 2 085.9 ha consistent with an annual decrease of 0.79%. However, there was an overall 34.3% increase in mangrove coverage from 2 085.9 to 2 801.8 ha between 2000 and 2011. Major causes of forest loss include local human pressures in the form of deforestation, conversion to agriculture, and natural forces such as erosion. The recent gain in mangrove forest cover is attributed to eff ective conservation management in the nature reserve area, including intensive mangrove plantation eff orts and increased local awareness of wetland conservation.     

Spatial-temporal changes of vegetation cover in Guizhou Province,Southern China

Guizhou Province is an important karst area in the world and a fragile ecological area in China. Ecological risk assessment is very necessary to be conducted in this region. This study investigates different characteristics of the spatial-temporal changes of vegetation cover in Guizhou Province of Southern China using the data set of SPOT VEGETATION(1999–2015) at spatial resolution of 1-km and temporal resolution of 10-day. The coefficient of variation, the Theil-Sen median trend analysis, and the Mann-Kendall test are used to investigate the spatial-temporal change of vegetation cover and its future trend. Results show that: 1) the spatial distribution pattern of vegetation cover in Guizhou Plateau is high in the east whereas low in the west. The average annual normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI) from west to east is higher than that from south to north. 2) Average annual NDVI improved obviously in the past 17 years. The growth rate of average annual NDVI is 0.028/10 yr, which is slower than that of vegetation in the country(0.048/10 yr) from 1998 to 2007. Average annual NDVI in karst area is lower than that in non-karst area. However, the growing rate of average annual NDVI in karst area(0.030/10 yr) is faster than that in non-karst area(0.023/10 yr), indicating that vegetation coverage increases more rapidly in karst area. 3) Vegetation coverage in the study area is stable overall, but fluctuates in the local scales. 4) Vegetation coverage presents a continuous increasing trend. The Hurst exponent of NDVI in different vegetation types has an obvious threshold in various elevations. 5) The proportion of vegetation cover with sustainable increase is higher than that of vegetation cover with sustainable decrease. The improvement in vegetation cover may expand to most parts of the study area.     

水平开发井在海上油田储量评价和开发生产中的应用

海上油田开发初期由于钻井少, 资料录取有限, 且缺少动态资料, 油田储量认识存在较大不确定性, 随着开发程度的提高, 往往会出现储量与产量之间的矛盾, 而储量再评价是解决这种矛盾的重要方式。为提高开发效率, 缩减成本, 海上油田更多以水平井开发, 受井型的影响, 开发阶段资料录取往往受限, 因此新增水平井资料成为油田储量再评价中获得新的地质油藏认识以及提高储量估算精度的关键。为进一步获得可靠的储量评价结果, 解决油田的动静态矛盾, 笔者在分析珠江口盆地储量变化主控参数的基础上, 根据水平井钻井特征, 充分挖掘水平开发井在提高主控参数精度上的作用。分析结果显示含油面积和有效厚度在储量评估中的不确定性最大, 是引起储量变化的两个主控参数, 水平开发井在提升油田产能、确定有效厚度下限、微构造研究、岩性边界以及流体界面识别等方面具有较好的作用, 在资料录取有限的情况下, 利用水平开发井能有效提高主控参数精度, 获得相对合理的地质储量, 解决油田生产动态矛盾的同时, 也为油田后期挖潜指明方向。南海东部多个油田的应用实例也证实这一认识。      

Succession Features and Dynamic Simulation of Subalpine Forest in the Gongga Mountain, China

The Gongga Mountain of eastern Tibet Plateau is a representative of the alpine regions with high peaks and deep valleys. Climate change over the last thousand years has controlled the dynamics of glacier and debris flow occurrence, which resulted in substantial changes in the mountainous environment. The authors surveyed the community structure of primary forests in Gongga Mountain and forest successign processes in woodland plots. The changing features in the subalpine environment are discussed in this paper. Tree species and sizes between the glacier shrinking areas and debris flow fans in Hailuogou Valley are compared. The pioneer species that settle in debris flow fans and the glacier shrinking areas are Salix spp. and Populus purdomii. Abies fabri and Picea brachytyla are the climax tree species. The succession process of primary vegetation in Hailuogou (2700 ～ 3200 m) can be divided into four stages:     

Biomass carbon storage and its sequestration potential of afforestation under natural forest protection program in China

Based on the data from China′s Seventh Forest Inventory for the period of 2004–2008, area and stand volume of different types and age-classes of plantation were used to establish the relationship between biomass density and age of planted forests in different regions of the country. Combined with the plantation area in the first-stage of the Natural Forest Protection(NFP) program(1998–2010), this study calculated the biomass carbon storage of the afforestation in the first-stage of the program. On this basis, the carbon sequestration potential of these forests was estimated for the second stage of the program(2011–2020). Biomass carbon storage of plantation established in the first stage of the program was 33.67 Tg C, which was majority accounted by protection forests(30.26 Tg C). There was a significant difference among carbon storage in different regions, which depended on the relationship of biomass carbon density, forest age and plantation area. Under the natural growth, the carbon storage was forecasted to increase annually from 2011 to 2020, reaching 96.03 Tg C at the end of the second-stage of the program in 2020. The annual growth of the carbon storage was forecasted to be 6.24 Tg C/yr, which suggested that NFP program has a significant potential for enhancing carbon sequestration in plantation forests under its domain.     

ANALYSIS ON LAND—USE CHANGE AND SOCIO—ECONOMIC DRIVING FACTOS IN HAINAN ISLAD DURING 50 YEARS FROM 1950 TO 1999

Land-use change is an important part of global change research( IGBP,1990-1992).But the majority of researches focus on the natural driving force of land use change.In this paper,the authors studied the relationship be-tween socio-economic driving factors and land-use change with time series in Hainan Island.Based on the study for the evolution of administrative system and policies in Hainan Island and the comprehensive analysis on the social economy da-ta and changes of social policies,the socio-economic pooicies,human activities and land use of Hainan can be divided into three periods with different characters:period from 1950 to 1978 characterized by the planning economic system,peri-od from 1978 to 1988 characterized by the transfer of economic system and adoption of open policy,new stage from 1988 to 1998 with high growing speed .On the other hand the authors describe the character of the periods and land-use change process affected by socio-economic afctors.This paper provides an important method for evaluating the development and changes of Hainan social economy during the 50 years from 1950 to1999 and forecasting the development of Hainan so-cial economy in future.     

Research on the macrodevelopment strategy of Hainan Island

There is a great difference in starting conditions among Hainan Island, the special economic zones and the economic and technological development zones in China, and "the Four Small Dragons" of Asia. Hainan's major superiority is superiority of the special economic zone. The superiority includes two main parts of natural resources and geographical location. In order to give play to the superiority it is necessary to develop the export-oriented economy. As for giving full play to the location superiority, it must be solved that the problems on the investment, the talent and the development models. It is very important to rely on the superiority of natural resources to develop the products which is necessary for our country and can replace the imports. The rational adjustment on the economic departments in Hainan Province comprises two aspects. The departments of exploiting natural resources must enlarge the processing depth of agricultural products and industrial raw materials, and increase the additiona     

A 150-year isotopic record of lead deposition in Yancheng coastal wetland,China

Radioactive markers are useful in dating lead(Pb) deposition patterns from industrialization in sedimentary archives. As a well-known natural reserve in the world, Yancheng coastal wetland in Jiangsu Province is one of areas most sensitive to global sea level change and is located in the most developed and polluted region of China. Two cores were collected in Yancheng wetland in October 2013 and dated using ~(210)Pb and ~(137)Cs radiometric techniques. Sediments in both cores were sectioned into depth bands and examined systematically for dry bulk density, water content, magnetic susceptibility and grain-size. Multiple elements including Pb were also measured using inductively coupled plasma systems. Unsupported ~(210)Pb activities decreased with depth in both of the two cores, and ~(210)Pb chronologies were established(covering 150 years) using the constant rate of supply(CRS) model. The measured Pb contents ranged from 14.97 mg/kg to 29.40 mg/kg with average values of 17.17–22.79 mg/kg, and the Pb fluxes ranged from 41.70 mg/(m~2·yr) to 172.70 mg/(m~2·yr) with averages of 95.59–123.41 mg/(m~2·yr). Temporal variations of Pb flux, enrichment factors and Pb isotopes show a gradual and continuous increase over time and clearly reflect increased emissions from anthropogenic activities in the region. The Pb isotopic compositions show that most of Pb deposition in Yancheng wetland is input from natural sources by water flows and has the same levels of Pb as in the surface sediment of the Yangtze River and the Pacific mineral aerosol. We also stress the anthropogenic Pb contribution in Yangcheng wetland sediment and the reason of our Pb isotopes not showing anthropogenic signature is likely the instability of anthropogenic Pb in high Fe/Mn oxide conditions. Therefore, more attention should be paid to current local pollution problems, and society should take action to seek a balance between economic development and environmental protection.     

Mitigating people-park conflicts on resource use through ecotourism: A case of the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, Indian Himalaya

Ecotourism aims to deliver the philosophy of sustainable development through environmental conservation as well as socio-economic development. Areas with rich biodiversity and scenic beauty, like the Indian Himalayan region, have been one of the major destination centers for nature lovers from historical time. In view of conserving the rich biodiversity and natural heritage of the Himalayan region 92 protected areas have been set aside, of these Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR) is a well known world heritage site. Over a period of time establishing NDBR has invited conflicts between the local people and reserve authorities on the management approaches and utilization criteria of the natural resources, especially banning the traditional bio-resource collection rights of local community, expeditions, trekking, and other anthropogenic activities in the core zones. The present study aims to understand and analyze the various people - park conflicts, and also to suggest ways to mitigate such conflicts in view of biodiversity conservation and improvement of economic status of local people by promoting ecotourism. With this view the study further discusses the various aspects of ecotourism, its pros and cons, and the avenues of developing appropriate strategies for promotion of ecotourism in buffer zone areas of NDBR.