Applying systematic conservation planning to constitute a protection strategy for broad-leaved Korean pine forests in Changbai Mountains, China

The broad-leaved Korean pine(Pinus koraiensis) forest is one of the most biodiverse zonal communities in the North Temperate Zone and an important habitat for many endangered species.Broad-leaved Korean pine forests(BKPFs) are shrinking quickly due to deforestation and rapid urbanization. Thus, scientific protection strategies are urgently needed to change this status. Changbai Mountains contains one of the largest BKPFs and is considered a priority biodiversity conservation area in China. Guided by systematic conservation planning(SCP) methods and procedures, we chose representative species and communities in BKPFs ecosystem as priority conservation objects, and set quantitative conservation target, which is in the light of the biodiversity characteristic of BKPFs. The watershed area is used as planning unit. We used CPlan software to calculate the irreplaceability(Ir)value of each planning unit and the contribution value(Ti) of each conservation object to(1) assess the conservation efficiency;(2) identify the conservation gap of the existing conservation network. Then wecalculated a human disturbance index(HDI) for planning units in the conservation gaps and combine this with the Ir value to design three conservation scenarios to optimize the conservation network.Results show that planning units with high conservation value 14.16% of the total area, with3084.36 km2 were covered by the existing conservation network. 79.28% of planning units with high conservation value have not been protected which were concentrated mainly in the eight gap areas.Only 25.3% of protection objects achieved their conservation target with the existing conservation network. Conservation efficiency is low. Three conservation scenarios are constituted, each prioritizing a different aim:(1) ecological value;(2)species rescue; and(3) economical avoidance. The three conservation schemes potentially enable 93%,88% and 51% of conservation objects, respectively, to achieve identified conservation targets, thereby improving conservation efficiency significantly.

Surrogacy of bird species in systematic conservation planning and conservation assessments in Yunnan Province,China

Bird diversity is often used as surrogates for other species diversity,but there is a limited understanding of the extent of this surrogate in identifying representative priority conservation areas(PCAs).We used Yunnan Province in China as a case to measure the surrogacy of birds in systematic conservation planning.Here,we collected distribution records of mammals,amphibians,reptiles,and birds from public databases and literature,and applied systematic conservation planning methods to identify PCAs.We targeted four taxonomic groups at conservation targets of 17%,31%,and 50%of the total study area,and used the Jaccard similarity index to evaluate the surrogate extent of bird PCAs for the other three groups.Then,we overlapped different portfolios of PCAs with six categories of protected areas(PAs)in Yunnan,calculated the protection rates,and evaluated the effect of sustainable-use PAs on improving the protection rate of strict Nature Reserves.The results showed that bird PCAs generally had the highest surrogacy for representing PCAs of the other three taxa.At the 50%conservation target,the Jaccard indices between birds and the other taxa reached about 0.50.Moreover,amphibian PCAs had a good surrogacy for conserving reptiles,with a Jaccard index of 0.30,0.44 and 0.51 at the 17%,31%and 50%conservation targets,respectively.The existing PA system had quite low coverages for PCAs of these four taxa,and the average protection rates were 22.97%,19.78%and 16.52%at the three levels of conservation targets,respectively.The sustainable-use PAs can greatly complement the strict Nature Reserves by achieving average increased PA coverages of 10.00%,9.20%and 7.90%at the three conservation targets.Our findings provide a basis for surrogate-based conservation planning for areas with insufficient biodiversity information.

Conservation priority for endemic birds of China's Mainland based on a phylogenetic framework

In this report, a conservation priority scenario for endemic birds of China's Mainland is proposed from a phylogenetic perspective. By utilizing and comparing seven phylogenetic diversity (PD) indices, the study shows that the top ifve endemic birds with high conservation priority are Ar-borophila ardens, A. gingica, A. ruifpectus, Lophophorus lhuysii and Alectoris magna respectively. The ranking of species, based on the IUCN Red List and PD indices, were compared by means of a Wilcox signed rank test and Pearson’s correlation, drawing the inference that the PD ranking of endemic birds for China's Mainland shows a distinct and statistically signiifcant difference from the IUCN rank-ing. Therefore, the ranking of conservation priority for endemic birds of China using PD indices might offer new insights on species conservation from an evolutionary-heritage perspective, serving as a complement to the IUCN ranking.

Reserve network planning for fishes in the middle and lower Yangtze River basin by systematic conservation approaches

Although China has established more than 600 wetland nature reserves, conservation gaps still exist for many species, especially for freshwater fishes. Underlying this problem is the fact that top-level planning is missing in the construction of nature reserves. To promote the development of nature reserves for fishes, this study took the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River basin(MLYRB) as an example to carry out top-level reserve network planning for fishes using approaches of systematic conservation planning. Typical fish species living in freshwater habitats were defined and considered in the planning. Based on sample data collected from large quantities of literatures, continuous distribution patterns of 142 fishes were obtained with species distribution modeling and subsequent processing, and the distributions of another eleven species were artificially designated. With the distribution pattern of species, Marxan was used to carry out conservation planning. To obtain ideal solutions with representativeness, persistence, and efficiency, parameters were set with careful consideration regarding existing wetland reserves, human disturbances, hydrological connectivity, and representation targets of species. Marxan produced the selection frequency of planning units(PUs) and a best solution. Selection frequency indicates the relative protection importance of a PU. The best solution is a representative of ideal fish reserve networks. Both of the PUs with high selection frequency and those in the best solution have low proportions included in existing wetland nature reserves, suggesting that there are significant conservation gaps for fish species in MLYRB. The best solution could serve as a reference for establishing a fish reserve network in the MLYRB. There is great flexibility for replacing selected PUs in the solution, and such flexibility facilitates the implementation of the solution in reality in case of unexpected obstacles. Further, we suggested adopting a freshwater management framework in the implementation of such solution.