Browsing by Author "Ouyang, Z"
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Item Open Access Relationship between giant panda populations and selected ecosystem services(Ecosystem Services, 2020-08-01) Zhang, J; Pimm, SL; Xu, W; Shi, X; Xiao, Y; Kong, L; Fan, X; Ouyang, ZThe Convention on Biological Diversity's Aichi Targets address both biodiversity and ecosystem services. We explore the relationship between giant panda populations and three ecosystem services: carbon sequestration, water retention, and soil retention. Do pandas prefer areas with higher than average values of these services? Areas may be good for pandas but not for these ecosystem services, and vice versa. Answering these questions can focus panda conservation. We map their spatial distribution and temporal changes from 2000 to 2015, by watershed, to target future protected areas for both pandas and these ecosystem services. Pandas occupy watersheds with above-average carbon sequestration and water retention. There is no tendency for pandas to be increasing in watersheds that have higher than average values of these ecosystem services or in watersheds where they are improving. Protected areas represented watersheds with higher than average values of these ecosystem services but without pandas only poorly. Watersheds with pandas do provide higher than average ecosystem services, but watersheds above average for these ecosystem services often lack pandas. Those areas might be potentially important for pandas, but obstacles block their way. We identified conservation areas combining habitats, population, activity range, and higher than average values of these ecosystem services and then proposed new protected areas.Item Open Access The effectiveness of the zoning of China's protected areas(Biological Conservation, 2016-12-01) Xu, Weihua; Li, Xiaosong; Pimm, Stuart L; Hull, Vanessa; Zhang, Jingjing; Zhang, Lu; Xiao, Yi; Zheng, Hua; Ouyang, ZIncreasing human numbers and aspirations threaten protected areas worldwide. China faces especially strong pressure since many people live inside protected areas. It has sought to balance human needs and conservation goals within them by creating mixed zoning schemes loosely based on UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme. These include strictly-protected core zones, buffer zones allowing limited human use, and experimental zones that examine different land-use options. To test the efficacy of this zoning, we employed field surveys and remote sensing to assess the penetration of agricultural and urban land into 109 national nature reserves in China for 2000 and 2010. Human disturbance was lowest in core zones and highest in experimental zones in both 2000 and 2010. Over this period, 82% of the reserves were unchanged or had decreased human disturbance. Nonetheless, overall human disturbance increased by 7%, 4%, and 5% in the core, buffer and experimental zones respectively. Almost all the increase in the core zone was in four wetland reserves, where human actions converted large areas to agriculture. Some 58% of reserves experienced some human disturbance in core zones in 2010, demonstrating a need for more effective zoning. The findings have broader implications for protected area management globally because they highlight the strengths and weaknesses of zoning for balancing human needs and species conservation.