Optimization Of Protected Areas In Nujiang River Basin In Yunnan Based On Human Disturbance Index

Nature reserves is the most effective way to protect biodiversity,with the increasing human disturbance,the optimization of spatial pattern of protected areas network is an effective way to improve the protection efficiency.Yunnan Nujiang River Basin has been identified as a national and global biodiversity priority area because of its rich biodiversity.At present,there are seven nature reserves in the Yunnan Nujiang River Basin,and there are still gaps in the area,there are different degrees of human disturbance in the protected areas.The area is facing the development of resources such as tourism,biology and hydropower,and the contradiction between commercial and biodiversity protection is increasing.Evaluation of human disturbance intensity and identifying of suitable habitat is an important link in optimizing the protected areas network.In this study,six human disturbance factors were used to analyze the status of human disturbance in the basin,using the ArcGIS software to construct the human disturbance index(HDI-Human Disturbance Index)of the township unit in the Yunnan Nujiang River Basin,based on the analysis of spatial and temporal differentiation of HDI in township unit,revealing the pressures of biodiversity conservation in the Yunnan Nujiang River Basin,identifying suitable habitats within Basin,according to different scenarios to carry out specific biodiversity conservation optimizing.The main conclusions are as follows:(1)The average HDI of the YNRB in the two years(2005/2015)was 27.7,36.2,the overall trend of growth.Low HDI township disturbance status is relatively stable,moderate and high HDI township disturbance status growth is more obvious,in 2005 and 2015,upstream(Nujiang city)is in a low state of disturbance,midstream(Baoshan city)is the highest,downstream(Lincang city)is medium.(2)There are seven protected areas in YNRB,our study found that,township HDI is inversely proportional to the probability of distribution of protected areas,except for Dedang county-level protected areas,the HDI in the protected areas is below the average of the basin,the higher the level of protected areas,the lower the degree of human disturbance;the HDI growth rate within the protected areas is below outside of the protected areas;indicating that protected areas have better protection efficiency,the higher the protected area,the slower the HDI growth;the management level of protected areas has an important inhibitory effect on HDI in protected areas.In three different scale priority conservation areas,the lower the level of HDI,the more the distribution of priority areas,it indicating that the priority conservation areas are mostly distributed in low HDI townships.(3)There are potential suitable habitats in the study area of 11845km2,accounting for 38%of the study area,most of the area distributed in the upstream of the YNRB.The potential suitable habitat in protected areas is 2531 km2,accounting for 81%of the protected area,indicating that the potential suitable habitat can be used as a spare area for the protected area.At present these potentially suitable habitats are less affected by human activities and are less likely to be converted into commercial land and farmland,it is an important area for optimizing the network of protected areas in the future.(4)The main optimization modes of spatial distribution pattern of YNRB protected area network includes:the establishment of Sino-Burmese International Peace Park in the upstream of YNRB;the establishment of nature reserve in the Biluo Snow Mountain conservation gap;screening suitable habitats spare around protected areas;protected areas sub-regions are small and scattered in downstream;we identified ecological corridors to link these protected areas sub-regions to provide shelter for wildlife migration and reproduction in protected areas.