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Using landscape connectivity tools to identify conservation priorities in forested areas and potential restoration priorities in rubber plantation in Xishuangbanna, Southwest China

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Abstract

Context

Maintaining connectivity is critical for fragmented habitat networks to retain native species. The tropical forest in Xishuangbanna, Southwest China, is a biodiversity hotspot for China, but is also vulnerable to deforestation due to rapid expansion of rubber plantations, thus better understanding of connectivity may be crucial to species persistence.

Objectives

To quantify the functional connectivity changes in the forest in Xishuangbanna from 1976 to 2014, and identify the conservation and restoration priorities for effective forest conservation and management.

Methods

Using the graph theory (in Conefor sensinode 2.6), forest connectivity from 1976 to 2014 was quantified using probability of connectivity and number of components indexes. The importance of each forest patch during each period and the potential contribution of low-profit rubber plantation patches in 2014 was quantified and ranked by delta values for PC (dPC) index.

Results

Connectivity of forest in Xishuangbanna has progressively decreased over the last 40 years. The ten forest patches which had the highest dPC value remained almost the same for all five periods between 1976 and 2014, though relative importance varied. The 50 most potentially important low-profit rubber plantation patches were identified and mapped, and provide a target for effective restoration efforts to facilitate efficient use of funding to best improve conservation outcomes.

Conclusions

Targeted and effective interventions for landscape scale conservation and management can be made based on graph theory and connectivity analysis. Restoring low-profit rubber provides a mechanism for reconnecting the forest as an effective conservation tool. Here we show the application of this approach to restore forest and most effectively increase connectivity at minimum economic cost.

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Acknowledgements

Supported by Chinese National Natural Science Foundation (Grant #: U1602265, Mapping Karst Biodiversity in Yunnan). Supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDA20050202). Supported by the High-End Foreign Experts Program of Yunnan Province (Grant #: Y9YN021B01, Yunnan Bioacoustic monitoring program). Supported by the CAS 135 program (No. 2017XTBG-T03). Supported by West Light Talent Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. Y9XB011B01). Supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences Southeast Asia Biodiversity Research Center fund (Grant #: Y4ZK111B01).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, 666303, Yunnan, China

    Wenjun Liu, Alice C. Hughes, Yang Bai & Youxin Ma

  2. Center of Conservation Biology, Core Botanical Gardens, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, 666303, China

    Wenjun Liu, Alice C. Hughes, Yang Bai & Youxin Ma

  3. Yunnan Appraisal Center for Environmental & Engineering, Kunming, 650034, Yunnan, China

    Zengjia Li

  4. Guangdong Communication Polytechnic, Guangzhou, 510000, Guangdong, China

    Cencen Mei

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  1. Wenjun Liu
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  2. Alice C. Hughes
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  3. Yang Bai
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  4. Zengjia Li
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Correspondence to Alice C. Hughes or Youxin Ma.

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Liu, W., Hughes, A.C., Bai, Y. et al. Using landscape connectivity tools to identify conservation priorities in forested areas and potential restoration priorities in rubber plantation in Xishuangbanna, Southwest China. Landscape Ecol 35, 389–402 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-019-00952-2

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