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    Free-ranging livestock threaten the long-term survival of giant pandas

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    Date
    2017-12-01
    Authors
    Pimm, Stuart
    Li, Binbin
    Li, Sheng
    Zhao, Lianjun
    Luo, Chunping
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    Abstract
    © 2017 Elsevier Ltd China has implemented forest policies and expanded protected areas to halt deforestation and protect giant panda habitats. These policies simultaneously encouraged local communities to raise livestock that then freely range in forests. This grazing had unintended consequences. As an alternative livelihood, it has become the most prevalent human disturbance across the panda's range. How do free-ranging livestock impact giant panda habitats and what are the implications for future conservation and policy on a larger scale? We use Wanglang National Nature Reserve as a case study. It has seen a nine-fold livestock increase during past 15 years. We combined bamboo survey plots, GPS collar tracking, long-term monitoring, and species distribution modelling incorporating species interaction to understand the impacts across spatial and temporal scales. Our results showed that livestock, especially horses, lead to a significant reduction of bamboo biomass and regeneration. The most intensively used areas by livestock are in the valleys, which are also the areas that pandas prefer. Adding livestock presence to predictive models of the giant panda's distribution yielded a higher accuracy and suggested livestock reduce panda habitat by 34%. Pandas were driven out of the areas intensively used by livestock. We recommend the nature reserve carefully implement a livestock ban and prioritise removing horses because they cause the greater harm. To give up livestock, local communities prefer long-term subsidies or jobs to a one-time payment. Thus, we recommend the government provide payments for ecosystem services that create jobs in forest stewardship or tourism while reducing the number of domestic animals.
    Type
    Journal article
    Subject
    Science & Technology
    Life Sciences & Biomedicine
    Biodiversity Conservation
    Ecology
    Environmental Sciences
    Biodiversity & Conservation
    Environmental Sciences & Ecology
    Endangered species
    Forest conservation
    Free-ranging livestock
    Giant panda
    Protected area management
    Species distribution modelling
    SPECIES DISTRIBUTION
    CLIMATE-CHANGE
    ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
    CHINA
    HABITAT
    MODELS
    SELECTION
    POLICIES
    FORESTS
    IMPACTS
    Permalink
    https://hdl.handle.net/10161/17915
    Published Version (Please cite this version)
    10.1016/j.biocon.2017.09.019
    Publication Info
    Pimm, Stuart; Li, Binbin; Li, Sheng; Zhao, Lianjun; & Luo, Chunping (2017). Free-ranging livestock threaten the long-term survival of giant pandas. Biological Conservation, 216. pp. 18-25. 10.1016/j.biocon.2017.09.019. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/17915.
    This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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    Scholars@Duke

    Li

    Binbin Li

    Assistant Professor of Environmental Science at Duke Kunshan University
    Dr. Binbin Li is the Assistant Professor of Environmental Sciences of the Environmental Research Center at Duke Kunshan University. She holds a secondary appointment with Nicholas School of the Environment at Duke University. Her research focuses on loss of biodiversity, endangered and endemic species conservation such as giant pandas, priority setting and management of protected areas, and promotion of innovative technology, markets and policies to solve conservation problems and local commu
    Pimm

    Stuart L. Pimm

    Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology in the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences
    Stuart Pimm is a world leader in the study of present day extinctions and what can be done to prevent them. His research covers the reasons why species become extinct, how fast they do so, the global patterns of habitat loss and species extinction and, importantly, the management consequences of this research. Pimm received his BSc degree from Oxford University in 1971 and his Ph.D from New Mexico State University in 1974. Pimm is the author of over 270 scientific papers and four books. The Inst
    Alphabetical list of authors with Scholars@Duke profiles.
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