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The performance of nature reserves in capturing the biological diversity on Hainan Island, China

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Abstract

Purpose

The performance of nature reserves depends on the degree to which they represent a region's full biodiversity. Here, we conducted a study on Hainan Island, China, to assess how well Hainan's biodiversity features were captured by existing nature reserves. We also explored the driving forces behind the current protection pattern so as to provide guidelines for improving the island's conservation system.

Methods

We integrated the information on nature reserves, ecological variables, and human activities into a spatial database, then assessed the performance of nature reserves in representing natural variation, vegetation types, and species, and examined the impacts of human activities and land ownership on the current protection pattern.

Results

About 8.4% of Hainan Island was protected by nature reserves; the coverage was geographically biased toward its central mountainous areas with higher elevation, rugged terrain, and fertile soils. We found that 60% of the environmental units and 39.4% of the natural vegetation types had more than 10% of their area protected, respectively. Lowlands tended to have higher animal species richness, and the protection for endangered species was less efficient. Nature reserve coverage was negatively correlated with amount of converted habitats, human population density, and road density, and 82.4% of the total reserved area was allocated on state-owned land.

Conclusions

Nature reserve coverage was not enough to capture lowlands biodiversity features. The current protection pattern was significantly driven by several major conservation targets, human development, planning methods, and land ownership. To improve its conservation system, Hainan should enhance protection in the north and northeast plains and coastal regions, implement systematic planning approaches to define clear visions for guiding future conservation actions, and develop flexible management and funding mechanisms toward sustainable use of natural resources.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the Wetlands Ecosystem Services Valuation Project funded by South China Normal University (G21007). We thank Professor Ruyong Sun, an Academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, for valuable discussions and comments that substantially improved this manuscript. Dr. Edwards Grumbine at World Agro-forestry Center, Ms. Heidi Bissell at University of Wisconsin-Madison and Mr. James Dopp at San Diego Zoo provided valuable comments and English editing. Thanks to the Hainan Forestry Department and nature reserves staff for providing related datasets, and the Data Center for Resources and Environmental Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences for providing data on human population density. Special thanks to the associate editor and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Spatial Ecology Center, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, 55# West Zhongshandadao, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510631, People’s Republic of China

    Ruidong Wu, Jiehua Yu & Haisheng Jiang

  2. Aquatic Animal Lab, School of Life Sciences, South China Normal University, 55# West Zhongshandadao, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510631, People’s Republic of China

    Guangzhi Ma

  3. The Nature Conservancy China Program, B-23th Floor, Zhiyuan Building, 389# Qingnian Road, Kunming, Yunnan, 650021, People’s Republic of China

    Yongcheng Long

  4. Hainan Forestry Department, Hainan Provincial Wildlife Administration, 80# Haifu Road, Haikou, Hainan, 570203, People’s Republic of China

    Shining Li

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  1. Ruidong Wu
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  2. Guangzhi Ma
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  3. Yongcheng Long
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  4. Jiehua Yu
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  5. Shining Li
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  6. Haisheng Jiang
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Correspondence to Haisheng Jiang.

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Responsible editor: Thomas Braunbeck

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Wu, R., Ma, G., Long, Y. et al. The performance of nature reserves in capturing the biological diversity on Hainan Island, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 18, 800–810 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-011-0440-5

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