Effects of fuelwood collection and timber harvesting on giant panda habitat use

Bearer, Scott; Linderman, Marc; Huang, Jinyan; An, Li; He, Guojun; Liu, Jianguo

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2007.10.009

Cited by 99 publications

(73 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Despite numerous studies based on data collected over a limited scale-typically a portion of a single reserve [6,[13][14][15]-previous research has not clearly identified this strong association with old-growth forests. Although one single-reserve study indicated a positive relationship between forest age and panda presence [13], old growth did not assume the primacy it did in our findings.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Old-growth forest is what giant pandas really need

Zhang

Swaisgood

Zhang³

et al. 2011

Biol. Lett.

119

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Giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) are an iconic conservation species, but despite significant research effort, do we understand what they really need? Estimating and mapping suitable habitat play a critical role in conservation planning and policy. But if assumptions about ecological needs are wrong, maps with misidentified suitable habitat will misguide conservation action. Here, we use an information-theoretic approach to analyse the largest, landscape-level dataset on panda habitat use to date, and challenge the prevailing wisdom about panda habitat needs. We show that pandas are associated with old-growth forest more than with any ecological variable other than bamboo. Other factors traditionally used in panda habitat models, such as topographic slope, are less important. We suggest that our findings are disparate from previous research in part because our research was conducted over a larger ecological scale than previous research conducted over more circumscribed areas within individual reserves. Thus, extrapolating from habitat studies on small scales to conservation planning on large scales may entail some risk. As the Chinese government is considering the renewal of its logging ban, it should take heed of the panda's dependency on old growth.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Old-growth forest is what giant pandas really need

Zhang

Swaisgood

Zhang³

et al. 2011

Biol. Lett.

119

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“…Anthropogenic disturbances historically and currently pose a much greater threat to giant panda habitat than natural ones (Schaller, 1987;Liu et al, 2001;Bearer et al, 2008). Ongoing threats include fuelwood collection, medicinal herb collection, and livestock grazing (State Forestry Administration, 2006).…”

Section: Management Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Natural recovery and restoration in giant panda habitat after the Wenchuan earthquake

Zhang

Hull

Huang

et al. 2014

Forest Ecology and Management

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a b s t r a c tNatural disasters affect forest ecosystems in profound and complex ways. Artificial restoration projects have been conducted worldwide to repair disaster damage to forests, but the efficacy of such projects in light of naturally occurring recovery processes is rarely evaluated. To fill such an important knowledge gap, we investigated forest recovery and restoration in the world-renowned Wolong Nature Reserve in Sichuan, China after the catastrophic Wenchuan earthquake (magnitude 8.0) in 2008, which caused considerable damage to the forest and habitat of the endangered giant panda. This was the first multi-year field study to document natural recovery of forests in response to this disaster. Forest sampling conducted in panda habitat over a four-year period after the earthquake revealed that natural recovery was rapid, with vegetation covering roughly 70% of once denuded sites by the fourth sampling year. Vegetation recovery was further improved in sampled artificial restoration sites, which recovered from an average of 30% vegetation cover to 70% in only one year. Factors including soil cover and slope were correlated with successful vegetation recovery. New information learned from the multi-year field data provided a finer scale context for understanding the effects of disasters, a novel contribution considering that the majority of previous work has been conducted at the broader scale using remote sensing. Spatial analysis revealed that restoration sites were mainly distributed in areas of suitable slopes and elevations, but a measurable proportion (30-40%) were located too far from the existing panda distribution area and too close to human settlements. The restoration project has thus far had limited direct effect on giant panda conservation, but has indirect effects on improving forest cover in areas previously affected by human disturbances. This study provides a useful reference for understanding conditions affecting forest recovery, which can inform decision-making surrounding the implementation of forest restoration projects and conservation of endangered species, not only in China but also around the world.

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“…Research in the Brazilian Amazon has found that the type of smallholder farming system at the household level could be explained in part by household structure (including the size of the household labor force, and number of dependent elderly or children), in addition to distance metrics measuring market access (Walker et al 2002, Caldas et al 2007). Working in the Wolong Nature Reserve, in China, Liu et al (2003) have shown the influence of household demographics on the landscape, showing that changes in the number of persons per household can be an important determinant of habitat degradation due to household activities such as fuelwood collection (Liu et al 2001, Bearer et al 2008, He et al 2009). Marriage age, family size preferences, and the time between marriage and the first birth (referred to hereafter as "first birth timing") can also affect land cover change, with a time lag between the first changes in marriage age or fertility patterns, and the first observed changes in landscape-level outcomes (An and Liu 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of reciprocal connections between demographic decision making and land use on decadal dynamics of population and land-use change

Zvoleff¹,

An²

2014

E&S

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The effect of reciprocal connections between demographic decision making and land use on decadal dynamics of population and land-use change. Ecology and Society 19(2): 31. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ ES-06243-190231 Research, part of a Special Feature on Exploring Feedbacks in Coupled Human and Natural Systems (CHANS) ABSTRACT. Although much focus has been given to the study of land use and land cover (LULC) and population change, studies have tended to focus on relationships in a single direction, for instance, the consequences of changing LULC for population processes, or the consequences of changing population dynamics for LULC. Given the highly coupled nature of human-environment systems, we cannot fully understand these systems without considering reciprocal causality, or "feedbacks." This analysis focuses on the Chitwan District of south-central Nepal, a high priority conservation area, and seeks to address the question of how feedbacks between land use and microlevel human decision making impact the decadal time scale dynamics of population and land-use change. It investigates two feedback loops connecting land use and demographic decision making: agricultural land use -marriage timing; and agricultural land use -fertility. Marriage is closely tied to land use in Chitwan because new households in Chitwan are established primarily after marriage. Fertility is connected to land use because of its linkage with population size and future new household formation. However, prior research in Chitwan has shown that residents of agricultural neighborhoods tend to marry earlier, and to have children sooner after marriage. Using an agent-based model, we compare model outcomes from scenarios with and without these feedback loops. Our results indicate that these feedbacks lead to statistically significant differences in population and in land-use outcomes. However, the sizes of these differences are relatively small in magnitude (less than 8% for the scenarios considered here), even over a 50-year time scale. These findings are a reminder that CHANS researchers must be careful to consider both effect size and significance when considering the policy implications of model outcomes.

show abstract

Effects of fuelwood collection and timber harvesting on giant panda habitat use

Cited by 99 publications

References 50 publications

Old-growth forest is what giant pandas really need

Old-growth forest is what giant pandas really need

Natural recovery and restoration in giant panda habitat after the Wenchuan earthquake

The effect of reciprocal connections between demographic decision making and land use on decadal dynamics of population and land-use change

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