Dataset Information

Habitat suitability and connectivity inform a co-management policy of protected area network for Asian elephants in China.

ABSTRACT: Enlarging protected area networks (PANs) is critical to ensure the long-term population viability of Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), which are threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation. Strict policies of PAN enlargement that focus on wildlife conservation have failed largely due to difficulties in encouraging stakeholder participation and meeting the elephant habitat requirement. A co-management policy that promotes sustainable resource use, wildlife conservation, and stakeholder participation may have greater feasibility than the strict policies in a developing world. Here, we identified the suitable habitat of elephants using maximum entropy models and examined whether habitat suitability is indirectly associated with local economic development in human-dominated landscapes. We found that (1) the suitable habitat was mainly in areas of forest matrix (50% natural forest cover) with multiple land-use practices rather than relatively intact forest and near communities (mean distance two km) and (2) habitat suitability was negatively associated with local economic development (r_P = -0.37, P = 0.04). From the standpoint of elephant habitat and its socio-economic background, our results indicate that co-management will be more effective than the currently strict approaches of enlarging PAN. Additionally, our results provide on-ground information for elephant corridor design in southern China.

SUBMITTER: Huang C

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6476284 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Habitat suitability and connectivity inform a co-management policy of protected area network for Asian elephants in China.

Huang Cheng C Li Xueyou X Khanal Laxman L Jiang Xuelong X

PeerJ 20190419

Enlarging protected area networks (PANs) is critical to ensure the long-term population viability of Asian elephants (<i>Elephas maximus</i>), which are threatened by habitat loss and fragmentation. Strict policies of PAN enlargement that focus on wildlife conservation have failed largely due to difficulties in encouraging stakeholder participation and meeting the elephant habitat requirement. A co-management policy that promotes sustainable resource use, wildlife conservation, and stakeholder p ...[more]

PMID: 31041155

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Project description:We monitored the last remaining Asian elephant populations in China over the past decade. Using DNA tools and repeat genotyping, we estimated the population sizes from 654 dung samples collected from various areas. Combined with morphological individual identifications from over 6,300 elephant photographs taken in the wild, we estimated that the total Asian elephant population size in China is between 221 and 245. Population genetic structure and diversity were examined using a 556-bp fragment of mitochondrial DNA, and 24 unique haplotypes were detected from DNA analysis of 178 individuals. A phylogenetic analysis revealed two highly divergent clades of Asian elephants, ? and ?, present in Chinese populations. Four populations (Mengla, Shangyong, Mengyang, and Pu'Er) carried mtDNA from the ? clade, and only one population (Nangunhe) carried mtDNA belonging to the ? clade. Moreover, high genetic divergence was observed between the Nangunhe population and the other four populations; however, genetic diversity among the five populations was low, possibly due to limited gene flow because of habitat fragmentation. The expansion of rubber plantations, crop cultivation, and villages along rivers and roads had caused extensive degradation of natural forest in these areas. This had resulted in the loss and fragmentation of elephant habitats and had formed artificial barriers that inhibited elephant migration. Using Geographic Information System, Global Positioning System, and Remote Sensing technology, we found that the area occupied by rubber plantations, tea farms, and urban settlements had dramatically increased over the past 40 years, resulting in the loss and fragmentation of elephant habitats and forming artificial barriers that inhibit elephant migration. The restoration of ecological corridors to facilitate gene exchange among isolated elephant populations and the establishment of cross-boundary protected areas between China and Laos to secure their natural habitats are critical for the survival of Asian elephants in this region.

Dataset Information

Habitat suitability and connectivity inform a co-management policy of protected area network for Asian elephants in China.

Publications

Habitat suitability and connectivity inform a co-management policy of protected area network for Asian elephants in China.

Similar Datasets

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