Abstract
Human-induced ecological degradation in protected areas is of great concern in landscape ecological studies. Using Landsat TM data and GIS-based spatial analysis, we assessed the impacts of human disturbances on landscape structure in the Wolong Nature Reserve in southwestern China. Buffer zone and landscape dissimilarity analysis were used to examine the scope of three types of human-induced disturbances—construction of hydropower stations, human activities around settlement, and human activities along roads. We found that the impacts of these human disturbances extend to a threshold distance of about 1,000 m from the sources of disturbance. The intensity of the impact of human disturbances on landscape structure exhibited clear distance–decay effects. The first 200 m buffer zone is the area where human activities have inflicted the most visible changes, with a decrease of forest cover by 15–40% and an increase of shrub and barren land area by 15–50%. The relative intensity of the overall impact on landscape structure was highest around hydropower stations, second around human settlements, and lowest along roads. Overtime, however, the relative level of impact associated with construction of hydropower stations will likely decrease and that associated with human activities around settlements likely increase. Our case study of Wolong exposes hurdles that habitat preservation must cross in protected areas. Future management of Wolong Nature Reserve should focus on adoption of effective policies to further constrain human activities in the reserve.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Andren H (1994) Effect of habitat fragmentation on birds and mammals in landscape with different proportions of suitable habitat. Okois 71:355–366
Aronoff S (1989) Geographic information systems: a management perspective. WDL, Ottawa, Canada
Brandon K, Redford KH, Sanderson SE (eds) (1998) Parks in peril: people, politics, and protected areas. Island, Washington, D.C.
Brooks T, Bruner AG, Brunner J, Gustavo AB, Fonseca DA, Liu R, Sung W, Yan X, Baragona K, Liu J, Linderman M, Ouyang Z, Li A (2001) The pandas’ habitat at Wolong nature reserve. Science 293:603–605
Bruner AG, Gullison RE, Rice RE, da Fonseca Gustavo AB (2001) Effectiveness of parks in protecting tropical biodiversity. Science 291:125–128
Chen LD, Liu XH, Fu BJ (1999) Evaluation on giant panda habitat fragmentation in Wolong natural reserve (in Chinese with English abstract). Acta Ecol Sin 19:291–297
Dompka V (ed) (1996) Human population, biodiversity and protected areas: science and policy issues. American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, D.C.
Ehrlich PR (1995) The scale of human enterprise and biodiversity loss. In: Lawton JH, May RM (eds) Extinction rates. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 214–226
Faith DP, Minchin PR, Belbin L (1987) Compositional dissimilarity as a robust measure of ecological distance. Vegetatio 69:57–68
Forester DJ, Machlis GE (1996) Modeling human factors that affect the loss of biodiversity. Conserv Biol 10:1253–1263
Ghimire KB, Pimbert MP (eds) (1997) Social change and conservation: environmental politics and impacts of national parks and protected areas. Earthscan, London
Goudie A (2000) The human impact on the natural environment. MIT, Cambridge, Mass.
Hocking M, Stolton S, Dudley N (2000) Evaluating effectiveness: a framework for assessing management of protected areas. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. Available online at http://wcpa.iucn.org/pubs/pdfs/Evaluating_Effect.pdf. (accessed 15 April 2003)
Homewood K, Lambin EF, Coast E, Kariuki A, Kikula I, Kivelia J, Said M, Serneels S, Thompson M (1998) Long-term changes in Serengeti-Mara wildebeest and land cover: pastoralism, population, or policies? Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 98:12544–12549
IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) (1998) United Nations list of protected areas. World Conservation Monitoring Centre and IUCN Commission on National Parks and Protected Areas, IUCN, Gland, Switzerland
James AN, Green MJB, Paine JR (1999) Global review of protected area budgets and staff. WCMC, Cambridge, UK
Krebs CJ (1999) Ecological methodology, 2nd edn. Benjamin/Cummings, Menlo Park, Calif.
Legendre P, Legendre L (1998) Numerical ecology, 2nd edn. Elsevier, Amsterdam
Li A, Liu JG, Ouyang ZY, Linderman M, Zhou SQ, Zhang HM (2001) Simulating demographic and socioeconomic processes on household level and implications for giant panda habitats. Ecol Model 140:31–49
Li A, Lupi F, Liu JG, Linderman MA, Huang JY (2002) Modeling the choice to switch from fuelwood to electricity: implications for giant panda habitat conservation. Ecol Econ 42:445–457
Liu J, Ouyang Z, Taylor WW, Group R, Tan Y, Zhang H (1999) A framework for evaluating the effects of human factors on wildlife habitat: the case of Giant Pandas. Conserv Biol 13:1360–1370
Liu J, Linderman M, Ouyang ZY, Li A (2001) Ecological degradation in protected area: the case of Wolong Natural Reserve for Giant Pandas. Science 292:98–101
Liu J, Daily GC, Ehrlich PR, Luck GW (2003) Effects of household dynamics on resource consumption and biodiversity. Nature 421:530–533
Loucks CJ, Lü Z, Dinerstein E, Wang H, Olson DM, Zhu C, Wang D (2001) Ecology: giant pandas in a changing landscape. Science 294:1465
Lü YH, Chen LD, Fu BJ, Liu SL (2003) A framework for evaluating the effectiveness of protected areas: the case of Wolong Biosphere Reserve. Landscape Urban Plann 63:213–223
MacKinnon J, DeWulf R (1994) Designing protected areas for the giant pandas in China. In: Miller RI (ed) Mapping the diversity of nature. Chapman & Hall, London, pp 142–172
Maikhuri RK, Nautiyal S, Rao KS, Chandrasekhar K, Gavali R, Saxena KG (2000) Analysis and resolution of protected area—people conflicts in Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, India. Environ Conserv 27:43–53
McNeely JA, Gadgil M, Leveque C, Padoch C, Redford K (1995) Human influences on biodiversity and protected areas. In: Heywood VH (ed) Global biodiversity assessment. Cambridge University Press, New York, pp 711–822
Ouyang Z, Liu J, Zhang H (2000) Community structure analysis of giant panda habitat in Wolong (in Chinese with English abstract). Acta Ecol Sin 20:458–462
Pimm SL, Lawton JH (1998) Planning for biodiversity. Science 279:2068–2069
Primack RB (2000) A primer of conservation biology. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Mass.
Qin ZS, Allen T (1993) The bamboo and forest dynamic succession of the ecological environment for Giant Pandas in Wolong (in Chinese). Forestry, Beijing, China
Samant SS, Dhar U, Rawal RS (2000) Assessment of fuel resource diversity and utilization patterns in Askot Wildlife Sanctuary in Kumaun Himalaya, India for conservation and management. Environ Conserv 27:5–13
Schaller GB, Hu J, Pan W, Zhu J (1985) The Giant Pandas of Wolong. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago
Swaisgood RR, White AM, Zhou XP, Zhang HM, Zhang GQ, Wei RP, Hare VJ, Tepper EM, Lindburg DG (2001) A quantitative assessment of the efficacy of an environmental enrichment program for giant pandas. Anim Behav 61:447–457
Tenner E (1996) Why things bite back: technology and the revenge of unintended consequences. Knopf, New York
Trakolis D (2001) Local people’s perceptions of planning and management issues in Prespes Lakes national park, Greece. Environ Manage 61:227–241
Turner BL II, Clark WC, Kates RW, Richards JF, Mathews JT, Meyer WB (eds) (1990) The earth as transformed by human action. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Vanclay JK, Bruner AG, Gullison RE, Rice RE, da Fonseca Gustavo AB (2001) The effectiveness of parks. Science 293:1007
Vitousek PM, Mooney HA, Lubchenco J, Melillo JM (1997) Human domination of earth’s ecosystems. Science 277:494–499
Wright RG (ed) (1996) National parks and protected areas: their role in environmental protection. Blackwell, Cambridge, Mass.
Zeng H, Wu XB (2004) Utilities of edge-based metrics for studying landscape fragmentation. Comput, Environ Urban Syst 29:159–178
Zhang ZJ, Hu JC (2000) A study on giant panda’s habitat selection (in Chinese with English abstract). J Sichuan Normal Univ 21:18–21
Zhang HM, Wang PY, Zhang GQ, Wei RP (2000) Advances in conservation and research technology for captive and wild pandas of Wolong (in Chinese with English abstract). Sichuan J Zool 19:35–38
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful for the constructive comments made by three anonymous reviewers, which have significantly improved the quality of this paper. This study is partially funded by the National Basic Science and Technology Planning Project (G2000046807) sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology, and the National Natural Science Foundation, People’s Republic of China (40171091). Ningning Kong and Shujuan Li were two key graduate assistants for this project. We would like to express our sincere thanks to Ouyang Zhiyun, Research Fellow of Ecological Environment Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, for providing the DEM and data on locations of human activities. We also like to thank Dr. Ma Keming, Dr. Chen Liding, and Ms. Gao Lingyun for their help in the field survey.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
About this article
Cite this article
Zeng, H., Sui, D.Z. & Wu, X.B. Human disturbances on landscapes in protected areas: a case study of the Wolong Nature Reserve. Ecol Res 20, 487–496 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-005-0065-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11284-005-0065-6