The Spatial Patterns Of Nature Reserves In The Seven Provinces Of Western China

Biodiversity loss is significantly affecting the ecological functions and ecosystem services provisions of global ecosystems.Biodiversity provides the crucial base for sustaining human well-being,and for maintaining the healthy ecosystem functions on earth.Currently,the primary ways for protecting biodiversity include ex situ and in situ conservation,while in situ conservation is recognized as the most effective measure.One of the major goals for in situ conservation is to establish a comprehensive reserve system.However,most nature reserves in China were established through an opportunistic manner.Therefore,the spatial configuration of China’s nature reserves should be further optimized.With the seven provinces(i.e.Yunnan,Sichuan,Chongqing,Guizhou,Guangxi,Qinghai and Tibet)in western China as the study area,this study systematically collected the information on nature reserves as well as the associated biodiversity data;a comprehensive regional-scale spatial database on nature reserves was then established by digitizing the maps in ArcGIS 10.5;this study finally assessed the spatial patterns and conservation gaps of the current nature reserve system.This study may provide science-based supports for the studies and practices that aim to assess regionalscale conservation effectiveness and to establish a comprehensive nature reserve system.The primary results and conclusions are as following:(1)These seven provinces have established 111 national nature reserves and 175 provincial nature reserves.The coverage of nature reserves within all provinces showed a trend of higher in the northwest and lower in the southeast;Nature reserves had coverage on all the six elevation zones,and the coverage rate increased significantly with the rising of elevation;nature reserves had clearly different coverages on the different levels of terrain ruggedness,and the protection rates in rugged terrains were significantly higher than those in flat regions.(2)Except the vegetation type of grass,the protection rate for all other vegetation types were greater than 10%,with six types covered more than 17%.The coverage for ecoregions showed a clear pattern of higher in west and lower in east,with 39% ecoregions,21% sub-ecoregions and 19% ecological function zones covered more than 17%,respectively.Only 25% of China’s priority conservation areas had more than 17% protected,with one priority conservation area not covered by any nature reserve.The reserve coverage for important bird areas varied in a great extent,with 50% of important bird areas covered more than 17% and 37% of them not protected by any reserve.(3)In regions with lower elevations,flat terrains and higher human disturbances,the spatial distribution of nature reserves were relatively dispersed,highly isolated and small in size.Whereas,the large national nature reserves were concentrated in regions with the lowest human disturbance index.This indicated that human activities can significantly affect the spatial pattern of nature reserves.