China's endemic vertebrates sheltering under the protective umbrella of the giant panda

Abstract

The giant panda attracts disproportionate conservation resources. How well does this emphasis protect other endemic species? Detailed data on geographical ranges are not available for plants or invertebrates, so we restrict our analyses to 3 vertebrate taxa: birds, mammals, and amphibians. There are gaps in their protection, and we recommend practical actions to fill them. We identified patterns of species richness, then identified which species are endemic to China, and then which, like the panda, live in forests. After refining each species' range by its known elevational range and remaining forest habitats as determined from remote sensing, we identified the top 5% richest areas as the centers of endemism. Southern mountains, especially the eastern Hengduan Mountains, were centers for all 3 taxa. Over 96% of the panda habitat overlapped the endemic centers. Thus, investing in almost any panda habitat will benefit many other endemics. Existing panda national nature reserves cover all but one of the endemic species that overlap with the panda's distribution. Of particular interest are 14 mammal, 20 bird, and 82 amphibian species that are inadequately protected. Most of these species the International Union for Conservation of Nature currently deems threatened. But 7 mammal, 3 bird, and 20 amphibian species are currently nonthreatened, yet their geographical ranges are <20,000 km(2) after accounting for elevational restriction and remaining habitats. These species concentrate mainly in Sichuan, Yunnan, Nan Mountains, and Hainan. There is a high concentration in the east Daxiang and Xiaoxiang Mountains of Sichuan, where pandas are absent and where there are no national nature reserves. The others concentrate in Yunnan, Nan Mountains, and Hainan. Here, 10 prefectures might establish new protected areas or upgrade local nature reserves to national status.

Strengthening protected areas for biodiversity and ecosystem services in China

“…Range maps for birds are from BirdLife International (37). For details of all species evaluated, see Tables S3-S7. Because the range maps contained unsuitable habitat, we refined the potential habitat for each species based on specific distribution area, elevational range, and vegetation, as suggested by Li and Pimm (38). Data on specific distribution areas are from the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and supplemented by recent studies (31,36,(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49)(50).…”

Incorporating explicit geospatial data shows more species at risk of extinction than the current Red List

“…Those maps often included areas that were not suitable for the species because they were not at the right elevation or have lost available habitat. As we have done for Central America ( 33 ), the Atlantic Forest of Brazil ( 19 ), Colombia ( 3 ), China ( 5 ), and Southeast Asia ( 32 ), we refined the existing range maps by elevation and habitat—in this case forest. To refine by elevation, we used the SRTM 90m Digital Elevation Model ( 11 ) and selected only areas that were within the preferred elevation for each species (Fig.…”

“…This paper follows in a series of regional studies and specific examples ( 3 , 5 , 15 , 18 – 20 ) that we deem essential to understanding the complexity of the problems and to which we will often refer.…”

Panda Downlisted but not Out of the Woods

“…The challenge that lies ahead is in the extrapolation of the panda strategy to other deserving, yet less charismatic species. While some of these species already benefit as a byproduct of sympatry with pandas, China could apply more directly some of the methods employed with giant pandas toward the recovery of these species, including 14 mammal, 20 bird, and 82 amphibian species in need of protection in panda reserves (Li & Pimm ).…”