Potential priority areas and protection network for Yunnan snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus bieti) in Southwest China

Abstract

In Southwest China, five Nature Reserves (NRs) (Mangkang, Baimaxueshan, Yunling, Habaxueshan, and Yunlongtianchi) play a key role in protecting the endemic and endangered Yunnan snub-nosed monkey (YSM) (Rhinopithecus bieti). However, increasing human activities threaten its habitats and corridors. We used a GIS-based Niche Model to delineate potential core habitats (PCHs) of the YSMs and a Linkage Mapper corridor simulation tool to restore potential connectivity corridors (PCCs), and defined five scenarios. A normalized importance value index (NIVI) was established to identify the protection priority areas (PPAs) for the YSMs for five scenarios. The results indicated that locations of the habitats and corridors were different in the five scenarios, thereby influencing the distribution of the PPAs and protection network of the YSMs. The NIVI value of Baimaxueshan nature reserve was 1 in the five scenarios, which implied the maximum importance. There were only 7 PCHs and 16 PCCs (with the longest average length of 223.13 km) which were mainly located around 5 NRs in scenario III. The protection network of the YSMs was composed of 16 PCHs, 18 PCCs, and 5 NRs. Under each scenario, most of the PCHs and the PCCs were located in the south of the study area. The five NRs only covered 2 PPAs of the YSMs. We suggest that the southern part of the study area needs to be strictly protected and human activities should be limited. The area of the five NRs should be expanded to maximize protection of the YSMs in the future.

Identification of Conservation Priority Areas and a Protection Network for the Siberian Musk Deer (Moschus moschiferus L.) in Northeast China

“…Despite the two regions having the highest biodiversity in Northeast China, the gene flow of terrestrial species between the two regions has been limited due to long-term human development driving land-use changes [63]. Along the path of lowest resistance (linkages [26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][33][34], Amur tigers and leopards in the national park could also migrate to recovered areas in the Changbai Mountain National Nature Reserve that have become suitable for habitation, which might further help to meet the goal of dispersing tiger and leopard populations. Considering this, we referred to previous research on Amur tigers to set 20 km in width to serve the needs of more kinds of animals [64].…”

“…These efforts have resulted in a significant improvement of the natural environment and the populations of some endangered species, such as the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) and Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) [24,25]. However, the construction of protected area networks is flawed and lacks unified planning and coordination in China, which limits their effectiveness [26,27]. To overcome these limitations, the Chinese government is building a new national park-based system of protected areas for biodiversity conservation [26].…”

Land‐use changes conservation network of an endangered primate (Rhinopithecus bieti) in the past 30 years in China

“…The GIS-based niche model incorporated eight environmental and biological variables that were deemed as potentially the most important factors based on ecological requirements and natural history of R. bieti (Huang et al, 2017;Su et al, 2015Su et al, , 2019Venne & Currie, 2021;Zhu et al, 2016).…”

“…The range of R. bieti includes coniferous forests (such as Pinus yunnanensis) and alpine mixed broad-leaved coniferous forests (Grueter et al, 2013;Li et al, 2020). There are approximately 3500 individuals and 24 wild groups of R. bieti that inhabit the highest elevation (ranging up to 4500 m) of any nonhuman primate; the species' population appears to have increased relative to IUCN estimates (Li et al, 2020;Long et al, 1994;Su et al, 2019). The primary factor contributing to the increase in population size of R. bieti is a decrease in anthropogenic disturbances including hunting and deforestation.…”

The emerging cross-disciplinary studies of landscape ecology and biodiversity in China

“…(3) Animal behavior in response to landscape variation: Three papers addressed the habitat selection and population dispersal issues faced by animals. After formulating habitat selection models for protected mammal species in mountain landscapes, Wu et al (2019) tried to estimate the role of human disturbance (forest fragmentation) on the dynamics and distribution of optimal habitats for the targeted species, whereas Su et al (2019) combined habitat and dispersal simulation models under a scenarios comparison framework, and identified a network of potential priority areas and corridors for the protection target. Yin et al (2019) applied circuit theory to the multi species corridor detection problem in a heterogeneous landscape, and detected a potential network of dispersal corridors for species that varied in their environmental suitability.…”