Search Results (7)

Understanding the spatiotemporal dynamics and driving forces of ecosystem service values (ESVs) is essential for managing complex socioecological systems, particularly in biodiversity-rich mountainous protected areas. This study investigates the evolution and interactions of ESVs in the Qionglai–Daxiangling region (QDR) of China’s Giant Panda National Park (GPNP) from 1990 to 2020. Based on a revised equivalent factor method, we quantified ESV changes and analyzed trade-offs and synergies among provisioning, regulating, supporting, and cultural services. A Random Forest (RF) model integrated with SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) was employed to assess the relative importance and interpretability of climatic, topographic, and socioeconomic drivers. The results show that elevation, wind speed, and sunshine duration are the most influential variables affecting ESVs. Notably, synergistic relationships among ecosystem services have increased over the past three decades, reflecting the impacts of national ecological restoration initiatives such as the Returning Farmland to Forest Program (RFFP). The SHAP-based analysis further revealed the complex, nonlinear contributions of both environmental and anthropogenic factors. This study provides an interpretable modeling framework for diagnosing ESV dynamics in protected mountainous landscapes. The findings offer practical insights for adaptive management and evidence-based policymaking in national parks under changing environmental and socioeconomic conditions. To better capture the anthropogenic influences on ecosystem functionality in mountainous regions, future studies should incorporate fine-scale land use data and broaden the socioeconomic indicator set to include variables such as ecological compensation and conservation enforcement levels. Full article

The Chinese red panda (Ailurus styani) is a rare and endangered animal in China; the increase in global temperature and the interference of human activities have caused irreversible effects on the suitable habitat of wild red pandas and threatened their survival. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out scientific research and protection for Chinese red pandas. In this study, the MaxEnt model was used to predict and analyze the suitable habitats of Chinese red pandas in the large and small Xiangling Mountains. The results showed that the main ecological factors affecting the suitable habitat distribution of Chinese red pandas in the Daxiangling Mountains are the average slope (45.6%, slope), the distance from the main road (24.2%, road), and the average temperature in the coldest quarter (11%, bio11). The main ecological factors affecting the suitable habitat distribution of Chinese red pandas in the Xiaoxiangling Mountains are bamboo distribution (67.4%, bamboo), annual temperature range (20.7%, bio7), and the average intensity of human activities (8.7%, Human Footprint). The predicted suitable habitat area of the Daxiangling Mountains is 123.835 km², and the predicted suitable habitat area of the Xiaoxiangling Mountains is 341.873 km². The predicted suitable habitat area of the Daxiangling Mountains accounts for 43.45% of the total mountain area, and the predicted suitable habitat area of the Xiaoxiangling Mountains accounts for 71.38%. The suitable habitat area of the Xiaoxiangling Mountains is nearly three times that of the Daxiangling Mountains, and the proportion of suitable habitat area of the Xiaoxiangling Mountains is much higher than that of the Daxiangling Mountains. The suitable habitat of Chinese red pandas in the Daxiangling Mountains is mainly distributed in the southeast, and the habitat is coherent but fragmented. The suitable habitat of Chinese red panda in Xiaoxiangling Mountains is mainly distributed in the east, and the habitat is more coherent. The results of this study can provide a scientific basis for the protection of the population and habitat of Chinese red pandas in Sichuan. Full article

Restoring the degraded habitat of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is of paramount importance for the conservation of the species and its forest ecosystem. However, little is known about the impact of ecological restoration interventions on the growth renewal and nutritional quality of Arundinaria faberi in the degraded habitat of the giant panda. Here, we implemented strip thinning and blocky thinning techniques in the Daxiangling mountain range, alongside a control group. A random forest model and multiple linear regression analysis were employed to predict changes in the growth renewal and nutritional quality of bamboo, particularly in the strip-thinned zones. The key findings were as follows: (1) Compared with the control area, strip thinning increased the number of shoots and increased the diameter and height of shoots. (2) The random forest model predicted a decline in bamboo regeneration indices in 2023 compared to 2022 under strip thinning. (3) Through thinning, the palatability and nutritional level of A. faberi were improved. (4) Long-term effects included increased tannin in leaves, decreased tannin and amino acids in shoots and culms, and increased crude fat, with changes in crude protein distribution across bamboo parts. Overall, these findings provide valuable insights for habitat restoration efforts targeting giant panda populations in the low-canopy forest ecosystems of the Daxiangling mountain range. Full article

The Giant Panda National Park (GPNP) and its surrounding areas constitute a comprehensive ecosystem aimed at protecting the natural habitat of giant pandas, maintaining biodiversity, and ensuring ecological balance. Investigating the spatial correlation between landscape pattern indices and ecological sensitivity (ES) in this area is a crucial step in the construction of ecological civilization and contributes significantly to ecological conservation, restoration, and environmental management. This study utilized Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Fragstats software to select nine ecological evaluation factors and four landscape pattern indices to comprehensively evaluate the ES and landscape patterns of the GPNP and its surrounding areas. This study discovered that the ecological sensitivity of the GPNP is substantially higher than that of the neighboring areas, with the northern Qionglai Mountain area and the western Minshan area showing the highest concentrations of exceptionally high sensitivity. Highly sensitive areas account for 35.22% of the study region, concentrated in areas within the national park, except the Qinling area, as well as the western and southern surrounding areas. The distribution of moderately sensitive areas is more uniform, while low and insensitive areas are found primarily in the northern and eastern areas, along with the national park’s environs. Patch density (PD) within the GPNP is lower than in surrounding areas, with higher PD in the northern and central parts. The landscape division index (DIVISION) decreases from west to east, and the landscape disturbance index (LDI) is significantly lower within the national park than in surrounding areas, with small areas of high LDI in the entire study region. Moran’s index analysis of the GPNP and its surrounding areas shows that ecological sensitivity is positively correlated with landscape pattern indices (PD, SPLIT, DIVISION, and LDI), with the strongest correlation between DIVISION and ecological sensitivity. Spatially, the internal areas of the national park have lower landscape pattern indices but higher ecological sensitivity, while the eastern region exhibits severe landscape fragmentation. Major clusters of high and low values are found around the Qionglai-Daxiangling area, indicating that these areas of high ecological sensitivity have complex landscape structures, numerous habitat edges, and significant impacts on biodiversity and ecological processes. Overall, the areas surrounding the GPNP exhibit lower ecological sensitivity levels and higher landscape fragmentation, emphasizing the need for focused ecological protection in the northern part of the QLS region and the western part of the MS region. Additionally, attention should be given to the impact of landscape fragmentation in the surrounding areas in the interior of the GPNP. These results provide scientific evidence for the sustainable development of the GPNP and its surrounding areas. Full article

The study of the dynamics of species habitat is of great significance for maintaining or adjusting the current habitat protection management strategy. However, the current research on the Chinese red panda’s habitat is limited to the analysis of a single period, which makes it difficult to quantify the changes in its habitat on a temporal scale and greatly hinders the formulation of the overall protection and management strategies that are to be used for the Chinese red panda. This study simulated habitat suitability at different temporal scales to quantify the trend of changes in habitat quality and analyzed the reasons for the changes in habitat suitability in certain regions. The results showed that the overall suitability of the Chinese red panda’s habitat increased and that the area of suitable habitats expanded. Suitable Chinese red panda habitats in the mountains of Qionglai (1662.73 km²), Daxiangling (230.30 km²), Xiaoxiangling (549.47 km²), and Liangshan (50.39 km²) increased by a total of 2452.89 km². The suitability of habitats in the central part of the Liangshan Mountains has declined significantly, which is positively correlated with changes in temperature seasonality (BIO4, R = 0.18) and negatively correlated with changes in annual average temperature (BIO1, R = −0.03) as well as changes in the proportion of farmland (FARMLAND, R = −0.14). The local extinction of isolated populations of Chinese red pandas in the Minshan Mountains is the main factor leading to their distribution retreat rather than a decrease in habitat quality. The research results help us to provide a scientific basis for the formulation of conservation and management strategies for Chinese red pandas at different scales. Full article

Habitat reduction and increased fragmentation are urgent issues for the survival and recovery of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca). However, changes in the distribution and microhabitat selection of giant panda habitats in different seasons in the same region have rarely been assessed. To further understand giant panda habitat requirements, this study analyzed the giant panda habitat selection characteristics and differences using the sample data of the giant panda occurrence sites collected during 2020–2022. The results showed that the giant panda in both seasons selected medium altitudes (2000–2400 m), southeastern slopes, slopes less than 15°, taller tree layers (8–15 m) with a larger diameter at breast height (17–25 cm) and medium density (25–55%), shorter shrub layers (<4 m) with sparse density (<30%), and taller bamboo (>2 m) with high density (>35%). The giant panda microhabitat survey in the Niba Mountain corridor clarified the characteristics of suitable habitat selection for the giant panda in the corridor. The findings of the study can provide scientific references for the development of practical habitat conservation and management measures for giant pandas in the study area. Full article

Identifying how policy, socioeconomic factors, and environmental factors influence changes in human well-being (HWB) and conservation efficiency is important for ecological management and sustainable development, especially in the Giant Panda National Park (GPNP). In this study, we systematically analyzed the differences in the conservation status of the giant panda habitat and changes in HWB over 15 years in the GPNP, which includes six mountain sites, Minshan (MS), Qionglai (QLS), Xiaoxiangling (XXL), Liangshan (LS), Qinling (QL), and Daxiangling (DXL). Redundancy analyses were used to determine the factors contributing (policy, socioeconomic factors, and environmental factors) to HWB and giant panda habitat conservation (HC). In addition, using a structural equation model (SEM), we investigated the relationship between the aforementioned three factors and their direct and indirect effects on HWB and HC. The results indicated that there was spatiotemporal heterogeneity of HWB and HC in our study area. There was an increasing number of plant species as well as an increased number of giant panda in GPNP. Generally, HWB in 2015 showed an increasing trend compared with that in 2000. Socioeconomic factors (23.6%) have the biggest influence on HWB and HC, followed by policy (23.2%) and environmental factors (19.4%). Conservation policy had a significantly positive influence on HWB (0.52), while it negatively influenced HC (−0.15). Socioeconomic factors significantly negatively influenced HWB (−0.38). The formulation and implementation of policies to promote economic development will contribute to the protection of giant pandas and their habitat. Our results provide insight on the conservation status of the giant panda habitat, HWB, and factors influencing them in different mountain sites in the GPNP, as well as having implications for the future management of the GPNP. Full article