Distribution of terrestrial national nature reserves in relation to human activities and natural environments in China

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1003.2013.08048

Abstract

Abstract:

To protect its huge biodiversity, China has established 2,640 nature reserves, including 318 terrestrial national nature reserves, covering ~15% of its landmass. It is necessary to characterize the geographical distribution of these nature reserves along natural and socio-economic gradients before evaluating their effectiveness in conserving China’s biodiversity. We did this using geographic information system (GIS) analysis. The results show that, the coverage of nature reserves is unbalanced across China. In total, there are 2,150 counties (91% of the total) with <10% coverage of nature reserves, of which 150 have <6% coverage and 1,726 (73%) have no nature reserves at all. A higher coverage of nature reserves tends to occur in regions of higher elevation, lower temperature, less precipitation, and less vegetation productivity. Nature reserves tend to be established therefore at high and cold locations in poor remote areas where human activities (including farming) are greatly reduced. In contrast, in warm humid and productive areas for farming and horticulture, nature reserve coverage is relatively low.

Key words: biodiversity conservation, nature reserves, geographical distribution

Guanghua Zhao,Yu Tian,Zhiyao Tang,Junsheng Li,Hui Zeng. Distribution of terrestrial national nature reserves in relation to human activities and natural environments in China[J]. Biodiv Sci, 2013, 21(6): 658-665.

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URL: https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/10.3724/SP.J.1003.2013.08048

https://www.biodiversity-science.net/EN/Y2013/V21/I6/658

Figures/Tables 8

Fig. 1 Spatial distribution of terrestrial national nature reserves in China

Fig. 2 County-level distribution of coverage of national nature reserves in China

Fig. 3 Average coverage of national nature reserves in counties at different levels of population density (a), coverage of cropland (b), and GDP per capita (c).

Fig. 4 Area (a) and coverage (b) of nature reserves along elevation in China

Fig. 5 Area (a) and coverage (b) of nature reserves along mean annual temperature in China

Fig. 6 Area (a) and coverage (b) of nature reserves along annual precipitation in China

Fig. 7 Area (a) and coverage (b) of nature reserves along vegetation index (MODIS-EVI) in China

Fig. 8 Area (a) and coverage (b) of nature reserves along vegetation productivity (MODIS-NPP) in China

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