Biodivers Conserv (2015) 24:2735–2750 DOI 10.1007/s10531-015-0959-8 ORIGINAL PAPER
Effectiveness of national nature reserve network in representing natural vegetation in mainland China Ziliang Guo1 • Zhong Li2 • Guofa Cui1
Received: 20 December 2014 / Revised: 7 June 2015 / Accepted: 3 July 2015 / Published online: 14 July 2015 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015
Abstract The conservation of natural vegetation directly impacts biodiversity conservation; thus, it is important to evaluate the effectiveness of vegetation protection in nature reserve networks. In this study, ArcGIS 10.0 was used for gap analysis of terrestrial vegetation protection within the national nature reserve network in mainland China. Overall, 9.75 % of the land area was covered by 366 national nature reserves. The bias of the protection ratio was particularly obvious among the different vegetation regions, zones, provinces and districts. The warm temperate deciduous broadleaf forest region was the least protected (1.84 %), and most of the NNRs were located in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau alpine vegetation region (35.8 %). Moreover, in most vegetation zones (57.14 %), less than 5 % of the area was protected, and in vegetation provinces and vegetation districts, 8.85 and 35.87 %, respectively, were not protected by national nature reserves. However, the number of national nature reserves could be higher in these vegetation zones, provinces and districts than in other areas. The protection bias became more significant as the analysis scale decreased. In addition, nearly 25 % of the natural formations in mainland China were unprotected by national nature reserves. A bias was also observed in the protection of different natural formations, with a lack or lower degree of protection for desert, grass-forb community, steppe, and scrub biomes, which were spread throughout northwest and eastern China. A distinct lack of protected areas was observed in certain parts of the country. Therefore, additional land may require protection in the vegetation
Communicated by Clinton Jenkins. & Guofa Cui
[email protected];
[email protected] Ziliang Guo
[email protected] Zhong Li
[email protected] 1
School of Nature Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing 100083, China
2
The Giant Panda Protection and Research Center of China, Ya’an 625000, China
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provinces and districts in the Tianshan Mountains, Junggar Basin, West Kunlun Mountains, Loess Plateau, and karst districts in southwest Guangxi Province and along the southeast coast of China. Keywords Protection Gaps Vegetation region Vegetation zone Vegetation province Vegetation district Vegetation type
Introduction The distribution of vegetation can significantly influence the patterns of biodiversity within an ecosystem, and protecting the diversity of geographical characteristics and vegetation within an ecosystem is important for biodiversity conservation (Groves et al. 2012; Cantu et al. 2004). Nature reserves (NRs) are widely considered the first line of defense for conserving global biodiversity, which is threatened by habitat fragmentation and wildlife extinction (Ma 2012a; Butchart et al. 2010; Jenkins and Joppa 2009; Tang 2005). In addition, a net primary productivity (NPP) evaluation of global terrestrial protected areas showed that protected areas had a direct effect on the representation of plant production (Tang et al. 2011). Appropriate areas of natural ecosystems, ecoregions, and geographical units should be protected to improve the ability of organisms to resist disturbances and adapt to environmental changes (Jantke et al. 2011; Jenkins and Joppa 2009). By 2011, there were 130,709 protected areas worldwide (area of 24,236,479 km2), which accounted for approximately 4 % of the total global area, including 11 % of the land areas and 2 % of the marine areas (IUCN and UNEP-WCMC 2012). The 2010 biodiversity target in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to effectively preserve ‘‘at least 10 % of each ecological region’’ is far from accomplished, resulting from the preference of protected areas in high elevation, low productivity ecosystems, etc. (Jenkins and Joppa 2009; United Nations 2011). Using data collected from protected areas and the distribution of biodiversity, several studies have evaluated the protection efficacy of existing protected area networks to improve these networks (Bottrill and Pressey 2012; Jantke et al. 2011; Jenkins and Joppa 2009; Gaston et al. 2006; Oldfield et al. 2004; Laba et al. 2002). Systematic conservation planning and geographic approaches to protecting biological diversity (gap analyses) have been developed over the past three decades to provide an informational basis for biodiversity protection (Culmsee et al. 2014; Zhang et al. 2014; Groves et al. 2012; Luan et al. 2009; Rodrigues et al. 2004; Groves et al. 2002; Margules and Pressey 2000; Scott et al. 1993). However, gap analyses could serve as a more common assessment method at a large scale based on limited data (Jantke et al. 2011; Oldfield et al. 2004; Jennings 2000). Numerous gap analyses at the global scale have shown that the coverage of biomes and biodiversity by the existing protected area network is biased and inadequate (Jenkins and Joppa 2009; Rodrigues et al. 2004). At a regional scale, analyses of the effectiveness of existing protected area networks for representing biodiversity and biomes revealed that many networks were skewed towards particular ecosystems with less interference and productivity, whereas other ecosystems were inadequately protected (Brugie`re and Scholte 2013; Sharafi et al. 2012; Jantke et al. 2011; Rosati et al. 2008; Oldfield et al. 2004). Gaps in the protected area networks affect how biodiversity and natural ecosystems are protected.
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China includes complex and varied mountainous terrain and landform systems that provide various habitats for all types of organisms (Fang 2004; Tang et al. 2006). Almost every type of vegetation can be found in China, including forest, meadow, desert, wetland, and coastal areas, and the distribution of this vegetation plays a key role in the conservation of global biodiversity and ecosystems. China (including Taiwan) has nearly 33,000 vascular plant species, accounting for the second largest number of vascular plant species in a specific region around the world (Huang et al. 2012). China is also one of the main centers of origin of wild and cultivated fruit trees, ranking first worldwide in the number of fruit tree species (Xue et al. 2011). In addition, China is considered one of the most phytodiverse countries in the world and is an important area for global agricultural plants (Puruggana and Fuller 2009). Many factors, including the ancient origin, complicated landforms and complex composition of the flora, have produced numerous relic lineages and plant taxa in China (Huang 2011; Lo´pez-Pujol et al. 2011). In addition, the number of terrestrial vertebrates (total of 2600 species) in China accounts for approximately 10.2 % of the world total (Zhang 2011). The establishment of NRs developed rapidly in mainland China, especially during the last 20 years (Ma et al. 2012b; Chen et al. 2009; Zheng and Wang 2009; Tang 2005). NRs are divided into national NRs (NNRs), provincial NRs, municipal NRs and county NRs according to their administrative ranks. Exploitation of NNRs and construction projects within their boundaries must be approved by the administrative departments of the State Council of China, and only the boundaries of NNRs are currently complete and accurate. Among all NRs, only NNRs are generally well-funded and have adequate staff and strong management performances (Quan et al. 2011; Liu et al. 2011; Quan et al. 2009). By the end
Fig. 1 NNRs in mainland China. (I) Cold-temperate needleleaf deciduous forest region; (II) Temperate mixed needleleaf and deciduous broadleaf forest region; (III) Warm temperate deciduous broadleaf forest region; (IV) Subtropical broadleaf evergreen forest region; (V) Tropical monsoon rain forest and rain forest region; (VI) Temperate steppe region; (VII) Temperate desert region; (VIII) Qinghai-Xizang Plateau alpine vegetation region
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of 2013, there were 2697 NRs covering an area of 1.46 million km2, including 407 NNRs with 0.94 million km2. Research has been conducted to assess and improve the effectiveness of the existing NR networks by analyzing protection gaps for biodiversity hotspots and endangered species (Ma et al. 2012b; Li 2011; Wu et al. 2011; Chen et al. 2009; Yuan et al. 2009). However, a systematic evaluation of vegetation within the NNRs of mainland China has not been conducted. Therefore, this paper presents an evaluation of the protection gaps for different types of vegetation and vegetation regions in mainland China to provide a basis for establishing and regulating NNRs.
Materials and methods We collected and established a database of NNRs in mainland China that included the area, type, protected object, establishment date and other information. Digital maps of current NNRs in mainland China were also collected and created (Fig. 1). Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan were not included in this analysis, because of the difficulty in obtaining data of protected areas from these regions and discrepancies in the classification of protected areas in these regions. The geographical boundaries and attribute information for 407 current NNRs were obtained from the Scientific Survey Report and General Plan of Nature Reserves (Li 2011). Furthermore, 41 natural monuments and oceanic ecosystems within the NNRs were not included; thus, 366 NNRs were used for the evaluation. The digital thematic maps created by Zhang (2007) of vegetation types and vegetation regionalization in China were used in this evaluation. The vegetation regionalization map of China included 8 vegetation regions, 28 vegetation zones, 119 vegetation provinces, and 453 vegetation districts (including Taiwan and the South China Sea). The thematic map of vegetation types includes 11 vegetation type groups, 53 vegetation types, and 600 major formations (including artificial vegetation). In this paper, only 542 major natural formations (within 10 vegetation groups), 446 major terrestrial vegetation districts and 113 terrestrial vegetation provinces (within 26 vegetation zones) in mainland China were evaluated, excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. The NNRs were evaluated to determine their effectiveness for representing natural vegetation by using gap analyses and considering the vegetation regionalization and geographical distribution of the vegetation types. The percentages of each vegetation unit and type in the NNRs were determined using a spatial overlay of the vegetation and NNR data layers in ESRI ArcGIS 10.0 (Environmental Systems Research Institute, Redlands, California, USA). Next, we compared the differences between the NNRs and their coverage percentages at different aspects and scales. If one NNR crossed two or three vegetation units, the number of statistics of the NNRs for each vegetation unit, which the NNRs is in, was 0.5 or 0.33. Differences in map projections for various data sets caused slight variations in the area estimates of the different characterizations that were calculated for our study area (Cantu et al. 2004). However, these differences were not considered significant because of the large area of the analysis.
Results Nearly 9.75 % of the national terrestrial area of China is formally protected by 366 NNRs. Although these NNRs are geographically widespread, their spatial distribution is clearly biased towards different vegetation regions, zones, provinces and districts (see Fig. 1).
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Vegetation regions A positive correlation was observed between the protected ratio and number of NNRs that did not occur among the different vegetation regions, and the vegetation regions with fewer NNRs could have an even higher ratio of protected areas (Fig. 2; Table 1). Of the vegetation regions, the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau alpine vegetation region, which had few NNRs, had a significantly higher percentage (35.80 %) of protected areas compared with the other vegetation regions (Fig. 2). The percentages of protected areas according to NNRs in the other vegetation regions were lower than the national rate (9.75 %). The warm temperate deciduous broadleaf forest region remained the least protected, with only 1.84 % of its land area protected, and the subtropical broadleaf evergreen forest region was second with only 3.04 % of its land area protected. These areas showed low levels of protection despite the presence of a high number of NNRs in these regions. Therefore, a higher number of NNRs did not correspond to a higher rate of protection in a region.
Vegetation zones The bias in the number and overlap of NNRs in vegetation zones was particularly obvious in mainland China (Fig. 3; Table 1). Among the 26 vegetation zones, only 6 vegetation zones in southwest China had more than 10 % of their area protected; however, fewer NNRs were located in these vegetation zones than in other zones. Moreover, the protected proportions of most vegetation zones (53.85 %) were less than 5 %, especially for nearly one quarter of the vegetation zones, which had proportions lower than 2 %. The vegetation zone with the lowest protection ratio was the southern subtropical monsoon broadleaf
Fig. 2 The difference of NNRs coverage and number among 8 vegetation regions
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Vegetation region
Cold-temperate needleleaf deciduous forest region
Temperate mixed needleleaf and deciduous broadleaf forest region
Warm temperate deciduous broadleaf forest region
Subtropical broadleaf evergreen forest region
Number
I
II
III
IV
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Eastern humid broadleaf evergreen forest subregion
Western semi-humid broadleaf evergreen forest subregion
IVB
Vegetation subregion
IVA
Number
Southern subtropical monsoon broadleaf evergreen forest zone Subtropical mountains coldtemperate needleleaf forest zone
IVBii IVBiii
Southern subtropical monsoon broadleaf evergreen forest zone
IVAiii
Middle subtropical broadleaf evergreen forest zone
Middle subtropical broadleaf evergreen forest zone
IVAii
IVBi
Northern subtropical broadleaf evergreen and deciduous forest zone
IVAi
Southern warm temperate deciduous Quercus forest zone
IIIii
Southern temperate mixed needleleaf and deciduous broadleaf forest zone
IIii
Northern warm temperate deciduous Quercus forest zone
Northern temperate mixed needleleaf and deciduous broadleaf forest zone
IIi
IIIi
Southern cold-temperate deciduous needleleaf forest zone
Vegetation zone
Ii
Number
Table 1 The difference in the number and coverage of NNRs among various vegetation regions and zones
23.5
14.5
3
3
13 8.5 7.75
2 3
8 3
5
112.5
30
4
13
17.5
6
26.5
8
3
11
Number of NNRs
Number of vegetation provinces
8.56
1.83
1.96
0.42
2.61
3.20
2.71
0.99
4.86
6.45
4.69
NNR coverage (%)
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Vegetation region
Tropical monsoon rain forest and rain forest region
Temperate steppe region
Temperate desert region
Qinghai-Xizang Plateau alpine vegetation region
Number
V
VI
VII
VIII
Table 1 continued
Eastern Qinghai-Xizang Plateau subalpine scrub and alpine meadow subregion
Middle Qinghai-Xizang Plateau alpine steppe subregion
North-western Qinghai-Xizang Plateau alpine desert subregion
VIIIB
VIIIC
Eastern temperate desert subregion
VIIB
VIIIA
Western temperate desert subregion
Western steppe subregion
VIIA
VIB
Western tropical monsoon rain forest, rain forest subregion with dry bias
VB
Eastern steppe subregion
Eastern tropical monsoon rain forest and rain forest subregion with humid bias
VA
VIA
Vegetation subregion
Number
Alpine desert zone Temperate desert zone
VIIICi VIIICii
Temperate steppe zone
Alpine meadow zone
VIIIAii VIIIBii
Subalpine scrub and alpine meadow zone
VIIIAi
Alpine steppe zone
Warm temperate shrubby and semi-shrubby desert zone
VIIBii
VIIIBi
Temperate semi-shrubby and shrubby desert zone
Temperate semi-shrubby, dwarf arboreous desert zone
Northern temperate steppe zone
VIIBi
VIIAi
VIBi
Northern temperate steppe zone
Northern tropical seasonal rain forest, semi-evergreen monsoon rain forest zone
VBi
Southern temperate steppe zone
Southern tropical monsoon rain forest, humid rain forest zone
VAii
VIAi
Northern tropical semi-evergreen monsoon rain forest and humid rain forest zone
VAi
VIAii
Vegetation zone
Number
2
2
3
3
1
1
4
8
4
2
11
0.33
1.33
2.5
1.59
1.25
3.25
5.5
13.5
3.5
1.5
21
23.5
7
5
9
5
5.5
4
2
Number of NNRs
Number of vegetation provinces
10.47
41.08
5.88
48.46
50.12
21.46
7.34
7.16
1.55
3.53
3.55
4.25
13.54
6.11
1.58
NNR coverage (%)
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evergreen forest zone (0.42 %), followed by the northern warm temperate deciduous Quercus forest zone (0.99 %) and the northern tropical semi-evergreen monsoon rain forest and humid rain forest zone (1.58 %). The alpine meadow zone had the highest level of protection (50.12 %), followed by the alpine steppe zone (48.46 %) and the alpine desert zone (41.08 %) (Fig. 3). The protection ratios of the vegetation zones varied substantially depending on the regions where they were located. When evaluating the vegetation zones, the protection ratios were usually lower in forest regions than in alpine vegetation and temperate steppe regions (Fig. 3).
Vegetation provinces and vegetation districts The bias in the number of NNRs and protection coverage was more severe at the vegetation province and vegetation district scales (Figs. 4a, b, 5). Of the 113 assessed vegetation provinces, 8.85 % had no NNRs of any type (Table 2). In addition, approximately 83.19 % of the vegetation provinces covering most of mainland China failed to reach the 10 % protection target of the CBD. Surprisingly, 44.25 % of the vegetation provinces had a protection ratio of less than 2 %. Furthermore, fewer than 2 NNRs in 33 vegetation provinces accounted for 24.81 % of the vegetation provinces. The most well protected vegetation provinces and districts were located in western China, and the least protected vegetation provinces and districts (protected at \1 %) were located in eastern China. Nevertheless, vegetation provinces and districts that had protection ratios greater than 10 % tended to occur in alpine vegetation regions with distributions of alpine vegetation, meadows and steppes, although there were slight distributed
Fig. 3 The difference of NNRs coverage and number among 26 vegetation zones
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Fig. 4 a NNRs coverage in each vegetation province. b Number of NNRs in each vegetation province
in temperate steppe; temperate desert; cold-temperate needleleaf deciduous forest; temperate mixed needleleaf and deciduous broadleaf forest; subtropical broadleaf evergreen forest regions (Figs. 4a, 5). Many vegetation provinces and districts in the Qinghai-Xizang
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Fig. 5 Protection gaps and the difference of NNRs coverage in vegetation districts
Table 2 NNRs coverage of 113 vegetation provinces (as a percentage of 113 vegetation provinces)
Table 3 NNRs coverage of 446 vegetation districts (as a percentage of 446 vegetation districts)
Protection percentage
Vegetation provinces
0 % Coverage
10 (8.85 %)
0–1 % Coverage
26 (23.01 %)
1–2 % Coverage
14 (12.39 %)
2–5 % Coverage
23 (20.35 %)
5–10 % Coverage
21 (18.59 %)
[10 % Coverage
19 (16.81 %)
Protection percentage
Vegetation districts
0 % Coverage
160 (35.87 %)
0–1 % Coverage
74 (16.60 %)
1–2 % Coverage
33 (7.40 %)
2–5 % Coverage
65 (14.57 %)
5–10 % Coverage
50 (11.21 %)
[10 % Coverage
64 (14.35 %)
Plateau alpine vegetation region had protection ratios greater than 15 %. Although the protection ratio was not determined by the number of NNRs, it appeared to be related to the number of NNRs among the vegetation provinces of eastern China.
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For the vegetation districts, 35.87 % were not protected by NNRs (Table 3). In nearly three quarters of the vegetation districts, less than 5 % of their area was protected by NNRs. Thus, several vegetation districts and provinces were not selectively protected by NNRs in mainland China. These gaps were concentrated in the warm temperate deciduous broadleaf forest, temperate steppe, and temperate desert regions (Fig. 5).
Protection of vegetation types The NNR network provided inadequately protection for most of the vegetation type groups, including the broadleaf forest, steppe, meadow, and desert (Table 4). In mainland China, 542 evaluated natural formations belonged to 10 vegetation type groups, and nearly 25 % of the formations were not protected by NNRs. These formations were primarily distributed in the temperate steppe, temperate desert and subtropical broadleaf evergreen forest regions (Fig. 6). Several mixed needleleaf and broadleaf forest formations were protected by NNRs; however, nearly 20 % of the broadleaf forest formations were unprotected, and a number of formations had protection ratios of less than 2 % (Table 4). In addition, the number of formations with protection ratios of 1–5 % increased significantly in five types of unprotected needleleaf forest formations. The number of unprotected formations was highest in the desert biomes (41.77 %), followed by the steppe (35.06 %) and swamp biomes (25.00 %). The number of protected formations at 0–1 % was highest in the grassforb community (31.25 %), followed by the steppe (12.99 %) and scrub biomes (12.50 %). Many formations (\5 % protection ratios) were spread throughout the temperate steppe, temperate desert, warm temperate deciduous broadleaf forest and subtropical broadleaf evergreen forest regions.
Table 4 Protection percentage (\5 %) of 542 natural formations (as a percentage of the 542 natural formations) Vegetation type group
Needleleaf forest Mixed needleleaf and broadleaf forest Broadleaf forest
The total number of formations
60 4
The number of unprotected formations
The number of formations protected at 0–1 %
The number of formations protected at 1–2 %
The number of formations protected at 2–5 %
5 (8.33 %)
2 (3.33 %)
6 (10.00 %)
6 (10.00 %)
0 (0 %)
0 (0 %)
0 (0 %)
0 (0 %)
104
20 (19.23 %)
7 (6.73 %)
2 (1.92 %)
21 (20.19 %)
Scrub
88
14 (15.91 %)
11 (12.50 %)
11 (12.50 %)
20 (22.73 %)
Steppe
77
27 (35.06 %)
10 (12.99 %)
5 (6.49 %)
9 (11.69 %)
Meadow
73
18 (24.66 %)
5 (6.85 %)
1 (1.37 %)
13 (17.81 %)
Alpine vegetation
17
4 (23.53 %)
1 (5.88 %)
0 (0 %)
Swamp
24
6 (25.00 %)
1 (4.17 %)
0 (0 %)
1 (4.17 %)
Grass-forb Community
16
3 (18.75 %)
5 (31.25 %)
2 (12.50 %)
6 (37.5 %)
0 (0 %)
Desert
79
33 (41.77 %)
6 (7.59 %)
10 (12.66 %)
5 (6.33 %)
Total
542
130 (23.99 %)
48 (8.86 %)
37 (6.83 %)
81 (14.94 %)
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Discussion Although the NNRs covered approximately 9.75 % of the national terrestrial area, there were obvious differences between the numbers of NNRs and the protection ratios among the different vegetation regions, zones, provinces and districts. The protection ratios of the warm temperate deciduous broadleaf forest and subtropical broadleaf evergreen forest regions were relatively smaller than those in the other regions. In addition, the numbers of NNRs were particularly high in these regions because the NRs in eastern China are generally very small (Guo and Cui 2015; MacKinnon and Xie 2008). This result occurred because of the intense population density in the forested regions of eastern China. In addition, most of the forests included secondary vegetation, and the protection of secondary vegetation regions was generally ignored in mainland China for a long period of time (Sang et al. 2011), which also limited the establishment and distribution of NNRs in eastern China. Most of the lands protected by NNRs were distributed in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau alpine vegetation region, which had a higher percentage of protected area than any of the other regions. In this vegetation region, substantial fractions of the land area were strictly protected. Many large-sized NNRs with areas greater than 10,000 km2 were established in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau alpine vegetation region (Guo and Cui 2015; MacKinnon and Xie 2008). Therefore, the vegetation zones, provinces and districts with the highest protection percentages were concentrated in this vegetation region. Some studies have shown that the global protection ratio may be uneven and geographically centralized (Jenkins and Joppa 2009).
Fig. 6 Protection gaps (\5 % protection ratios) of formations protected by NNRs
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The differences in protection among vegetation zones were more striking. Although the protection ratio of the alpine meadow, alpine steppe and alpine desert zones was greater than 40 %, less than 5 % of the area of half of the vegetation zones was protected by NNRs. Furthermore, the difference in protection among the vegetation zones, provinces and districts was obvious in the same vegetation region. For example, in the QinghaiXizang Plateau alpine vegetation region, the alpine meadow zone had a protection ratio of 50.12 %, and the temperate steppe zone had a protection ratio of 5.88 %. Therefore, certain biogeographic units can be neglected when gap analyses are conducted at a larger scale to determine global protection. In addition, the protection ratio of many vegetation regions and vegetation zones by NNRs was higher than previous estimates for strictly protected areas and lower than the estimates of protected areas by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) according to the World Database on Protected Areas (Jenkins and Joppa 2009). Currently, 19.23 % of formations are unprotected within NNRs and 54.62 % of formations are protected at\5 % in mainland China. These formations are mainly distributed in the temperate steppe, temperate desert, warm temperate deciduous broadleaf forest and subtropical broadleaf evergreen forest regions. Furthermore, many secondary vegetation types occur among these formations (Zhang 2007). However, the main distribution of these formations, including Juniperus rigida forest, Quercus dentata forest and Pteroceltis tatarinowii forest in mainland China has been severely disturbed by human activities (Zhang 2007). Thus, enormous pressure has occurred due to a loss of suitable habitat (Brooks et al. 2006), which has increased the vulnerabilities of these formations. Obvious gaps occurred in the protected areas of certain regions in mainland China. The gaps were highly consistent with the distribution of unprotected formations, especially for temperate desert, temperate steppe and subtropical broadleaf evergreen forest regions. In these regions, more vegetation formations were unprotected by NNRs. and additional land may be required to protect natural vegetation and biodiversity. We identified gaps in vegetation and biodiversity conservation that we suggest should be used as focal areas for improvement, including the Tianshan Mountains, Junggar Basin, West Kunlun Mountains, Loess Plateau, southeast coast of China (in areas with the greatest amount of human activities), and karst districts in southwest Guangxi Province. In conclusion, we inferred that China cannot currently meet the 2010 biodiversity target of the CBD or target 4 of China’s Strategy for Plant Conservation (CSPC) (United Nations 2011, ‘‘China’s strategy for plant conservation’’ editorial board 2008). To monitor the progress of these conservation actions, we recommend conducting continuous studies similar to this and other studies (Li 2011; Wu et al. 2011; Luan et al. 2009; Jenkins and Joppa 2009; MacKinnon and Xie 2008). Although protecting additional land may not be the best conservation strategy for certain regions (Jenkins and Joppa 2009), the implementation and enforcement of protection in currently protected areas may provide improved conservation results. In addition, we suggest that different conservation measures should be taken in vegetation regions with very different ecosystems and geographical characteristics. In the forested regions of eastern China, NR networks should be constructed first in the priority areas for biodiversity conservation in mainland China to increase the connectivity (Pouzols and Moilanen 2014; Xue et al. 2011). However, formal protection in NR networks cannot serve as a final or stable solution for biodiversity conservation (Groves et al. 2012). Meanwhile, biodiversity conservation should be considered in land use planning at the local scale, and local governments should implement more detailed conservation plans. Regions with high conservation value should be identified and strictly controlled in each vegetation province because the bias of protection
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becomes more significant as the scale of analysis decreases. In the temperate steppe and desert regions, new NNRs should be selected to fill gaps, especially for the distribution of unprotected vegetation formations, headwaters areas, and wildlife migrations. However, long-term monitoring, restrictive exploitation and community participation should be conducted to enhance the management and protection efficiency of NRs in the QinghaiXizang Plateau alpine vegetation region because the protection ratio is generally quite high in this region. Reserve site selection is usually a complex process that involves conservation targets, habitat quality and conservation strategies (Moilanen et al. 2014; Kujala et al. 2013; Moilanen and Arponen 2011). Various methods and conservation strategies have been used to improve the effectiveness of conservation planning and management decisions (Leroux and Rayfield 2014; Moilanen et al. 2014; Kareksela et al. 2013; Kujala et al. 2013; Sharafi et al. 2012; Leathwick et al. 2010). It is important to incorporate natural disturbance dynamics, climate change, habitat quality and connectivity into conservation planning (Leroux and Rayfield 2014; Pouzols and Moilanen 2014; Groves et al. 2012; Hodgson et al. 2011). Furthermore, environmental gap analysis, a new method using high-resolution information about environmental variables and ecosystem condition, can be applied to identify new NRs to fill the gaps in data-poor areas (Sharafi et al. 2012). In conclusion, adding features that are poorly represented in NRs would result in more efficient NR networks than selecting features that are already well represented. Acknowledgments The authors are grateful for the support of the Special Research Funds of the Forestry Industry for the Public Welfare of China, Grant. No. 201104029.
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