Spatio-temporal Variations Of Habitat Selection By Giant Pandas And Its Habitat Disturbance In Qionglai Mountains,China

Giant panda(Ailuropoda melanoleuca)as China's unique rare wild animals,its living conditions received many concerns from society.Since 1970 s,the State Forestry Administration has spent four times and invest a lot of manpower and resources to organize the national giant panda survey to find out the giant panda population situation,and the Chinese government's attention to the giant panda is also evident.At the turn of the century,China has introduced a number of ecological protection projects.The coverage of these protection projects includes the distribution of giant pandas in the country.The ecological effect also bring the giant panda a lot of benefits.After the giant panda survey in 1999,the State Forestry Administration organized the third giant panda survey,but the giant panda in Sichuan province suffered the worst earthquake in Wenchuan.Therefore,the survival of the giant panda has been a great challenge.In 2010,the State Forestry Administration organized the fourth giant panda survey,obtained the latest living situation of the giant panda population.In this paper,we compared the data of two giant panda surveys in Qionglai Mountains of Sichuan Province,which were combined with the remote sensing(ES)data of the Qionglai Mountains to study the influence of giant panda distribution after the change of habitat selection,habitat disturbance and places with earthquake damage.Giant panda survey data presents that the microhabitat selection in two surveys of giant panda in Qionglai Mountain shows a significant selectivity.The selection shows same preference in the selection of uniform slopes with smaller slopes,the selection of virgin forests,the selection of well-grown upper tree shrubs,and the selection of bamboo coverage.However,the selection of slope shape,slope aspect and bamboo height shows different.The random forest method analyzes variables that contribute greatly to habitat selection,and the results show that the selection of variables such as bamboo cover height,elevation,and tree DBH showed the same importance,but the slope in the fourth survey showed higher importance than the previous survey.Shrub growth status,tree canopy density,etc.in both surveys have shown a lower importance.Compared with the giant panda habitat samples of twice survey,it was found that the selection of giant pandas showed a significant difference in most variables.The fourth survey found that the elevation of living places of the giant panda increased,and the average elevation increased by 167.47 m compared with the previous survey.The giant panda' demand for the original forest was reduced,but the selection of the height of the bamboo was reduced;the giant panda chooses a microhabitat with a larger tree DBH.The number of disturbances in the giant panda habitat of the Qionglai Mountains was significantly reduced in 10 years,and the type of disturbance has changed significantly too.The most widespread harvesting disturbance in the third survey disappeared in the fourth survey,and the grazing disturbance in the habitat became the highest rate of disturbance.On the whole,the density of human activity disturbance decreased significantly,but its scope has been expanded.Baoxing and Lushan is the high density area of giant panda activity,but the number of human disturbance activities is relatively large.In the two surveys,the giant panda showed significant differences in the evasive effects of harvesting,grazing,road,hunting and other disturbances.The density of giant pandas activity in the small population of Qionglai Mountains has also changed.During the fourth survey,the density of giant pandas in the Xiling Snow Mountain-Jiajin Mountain area decreased,while the density of giant pandas in the triad area improved compared with the previous survey.Using the remote sensing image to extract the earthquake damage area of Wolong and Caopo Nature Reserve in Wenchuan County and compared the traces of giant panda activity in the two surveys.The results show that there is only a small area coincidence between the area of the earthquake damage zone and the traces of the giant panda activity,and there is no large earthquake damage area in the middle of the eastern section of the 303 provincial highway in the Wolong Nature Reserve where Giant panda activity concentrated.In the Caopo Nature Reserve,the earthquake damage area is located in the northeast corner of the reserve and the boundary of Wolong Nature Reserve area.We found no large range of panda activity traces in the above areas in two surveys.Overall,the range of giant panda activity didn't decline.Therefore,the impact of the earthquake on giant panda activity is kept within a limited range.