Improving landscape connectivity through habitat restoration:application for Asian elephant conservation in Xishuangbanna Prefecture,China

Habitat restoration is an effective method for improving landscape connectivity,which can reduce habitat fragmentation.Maintaining landscape connectivity could promote connections between habitat,which is extremely essential to preserve gene flow and population viability.This study proposes a methodological framework to analyze landscape connectivity for Asian elephant habitat conservation,aiming to provide practical options for reducing habitat fragmentation and improving habitat connectivity.Our approach involved combining a species distribution model using MaxEnt and landscape functional connectivity models using graph theory to assess the impact on connectivity improvement via farmland/plantation restoration as habitat.The results showed that:(1)there were 119 suitable habitat patches of Asian elephant covering a total area of 1952.41 km^(2).(2)The connectivity between habitats improved significantly after vegetation restoration and the gain first decreased and then increased with the increase of dispersal distance.(3)The first few new habitat patches that were identified played an important role in improving connectivity,and the variation rate of connectivity gradually leveled off as the number of new habitats increased.(4)Prioritization of the 25 best new habitat patches increased connectivity from 0.54%to 5.59%as the dispersal distance increased and mainly was located between two Asian elephant distribution regions and two components.Establishment of new habitat patches was effective for improving or restoring connectivity.Our findings can be used as guidance for improving the studied fragmented Asian elephant habitats,and they can also be used as a reference for the habitat restoration of other endangered species heavily affected by habitat fragmentation.

A preliminary study on designing ecological corridors in Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve with 3S techniques

This paper is based on the fieldwork in Xishuang-banna Natioanl Nature Reserve in Yunnan Province of China.GPS data of Asian elephants were collected and analyzed with the remote sensing satellite photos of the region to estimate the landform physiognomy of different colors.We also analyzed a series of ecological factors includ-ing altitude,landform,relief,villages and roads which affected the distribution and movement of Asian elephants.The results suggested the possibility of designing and estab-lishing corridors in Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve to protect the population of wild elephants in the region.