Identifying Connectivity Conservation Priorities among Protected Areas in Qinling-Daba Mountains, China

Fuqin Yu, Baiping Zhang, Yonghui Yao, Jing Wang, Xinghang Zhang, Junjie Liu and Jiayu Li
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Fuqin Yu: State Key Laboratory of Resource and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
Baiping Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Resource and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
Yonghui Yao: State Key Laboratory of Resource and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
Jing Wang: State Key Laboratory of Resource and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
Xinghang Zhang: State Key Laboratory of Resource and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
Junjie Liu: State Key Laboratory of Resource and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China
Jiayu Li: State Key Laboratory of Resource and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing 100101, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 8, 1-14

Abstract: Mountain biodiversity is under unprecedented threat due to climate change and excessive human activity. Although protected areas (PAs) are the cornerstone of nature conservation, it is increasingly hard for isolated PAs to maintain the species and ecological processes they depend on in the long term. Linking nature reserves to form a large and connected conservation network is regarded as the optimal measure, but research in this field is lacking in China. We mapped PAs in the Qinling-Daba Mountains in China and identified corridors among PAs and the corridors’ key nodes using a least-cost analysis and circuit theory to model an ecological connectivity conservation network for the region. The results showed that this large ecological network has 46 habitat patches connected by 88 corridors, with 69 pinchpoints, 86 barriers and 37 stepping stones in and around the corridors. In this study, 34.86% of suitable habitats have little or no protection and, in the future, these areas should be developed with caution, with more emphasis on protecting their ecological connectivity. This study used connectivity analysis to construct large ecological corridors based on PAs, providing a framework for connectivity conservation at the biogeographic scale and a scientific reference for further, subsequent conservation actions.

Keywords: ecological corridor; connectivity conservation; protected area; connectivity modelling; large-scale corridor; Qinling-Daba Mountains (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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