Research On The Conservation Effectiveness Of Natural Reserves Based On Mitigating The Pressure Of Human Activities

Nature reserves are the most direct and effective way to relieve the pressure of human activities and protect biodiversity.The quantitative evaluation of the conservation effectiveness of nature reserves has been the focus of current research.In recent years,studies have adopted the method of assigning weights to a single indicator or multiple indicators to calculate comprehensive effectiveness.However,due to the lack of quantitative evaluation methods for human activity intensity systems,it is difficult to understand the actual protection effectiveness of natural reserves in alleviating human activity pressure.At the same time,the factors that affect protection effectiveness are not yet clear,which is not conducive to managers developing targeted protection measures.Therefore,this study takes the Funiu Mountain area as an example,first selecting Human Footprint Index(HF),Human appropriation of net primary production(HANPP),Residual of Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(NDVIσ)、 Modis Global Disturbance Index(MGDI)consists of four indicators,and a comprehensive index of human activity intensity(HICI)is constructed using the entropy weight method.Based on these five quantitative indicators of human activity intensity,the spatiotemporal variation characteristics of human activity intensity in nature reserves from 2013 to 2020 are analyzed using trend analysis method.Then,the Comprehensive Index of Human Activity Intensity(HICI)was selected as the evaluation index for the protection effectiveness and overflow/leakage effects of natural reserves.Paired analysis was conducted using propensity score matching method for HICI inside and outside the protected areas from 2013 to 2016 and 2016 to 2020,and Wilcoxon sign rank test was used to evaluate the protection effectiveness of the Funiushan regional protected area;Finally,through the random forest model,the main influencing factors of the protection effectiveness of the reserve in the two periods were identified from the aspects of natural factors and human factors,and targeted countermeasures were proposed.The main conclusion is:(1)Characteristics of spatiotemporal changes in human activity intensity in nature reserves: In terms of temporal changes,HF,HANPP,and NDVI in the Funiushan Regional Nature Reserve from 2013 to 2020 σThe trend is increasing,while MGDI and HICI are decreasing.The annual average of the comprehensive index of human activity intensity in the natural reserve is between 0.11 and 0.32,while the annual average in the Funiu Mountain area is between 0.11 and 0.34.The growth rate of human activity intensity in the reserve is generally lower than that in the Funiu Mountain area;In terms of spatial changes,the overall intensity of human activity in the Funiushan area shows a spatial distribution characteristic of "low in the middle and high in the surrounding areas",mainly with mild impacts.In terms of spatiotemporal changes,natural reserves such as HF,HANPP,MGDI,and NDVI σ the main trend is to enhance,with the area of the enhanced trend accounting for 65.01%,72.66%,49.96%,and 77.67% of the total area of the protected area.HICI shows a weakening trend,with the area of the weakened trend accounting for 2.04% of the total area of the protected area.(2)Spill/leakage effects in nature reserves: Three buffer zones of 2 km,5 km,and 10 km were set up outside the boundary of the nature reserves.The results showed that from 2013 to 2016,most nature reserves(62.5% to 87.5%)experienced overflow and leakage effects.Within an area of 0-10 kilometers outside the boundary of the protected area,leakage effects occurred in Baotianman,Funiu Mountain,and Xiong’er Mountain,overflow effects occurred in the Lushi Giant Salamander Nature Reserve,and leakage effects occurred in the Xixia Giant Salamander Nature Reserve.The Danjiang Wetland,Tuanhe Wetland,and Nanyang Dinosaur Egg Fossil Group simultaneously experienced overflow and leakage effects in three sections.From 2016 to 2020,within an area of 0-10 kilometers outside the boundary of the protected area,leakage effects occurred in the Funiu Mountain and Tuanhe River wetlands,overflow effects occurred in the Xixia Giant Salamander,and no leakage effects occurred in Xiong’er Mountain.The Danjiang Wetland,Nanyang Dinosaur Egg Fossil Group,Tuanhe Wetland,Lu’s Giant Salamander,and the overall protected area have simultaneously experienced overflow and leakage effects.(3)Evaluation of Conservation Effectiveness of Nature Reserves: From 2013 to 2016,the overall protection effect of the nature reserves in alleviating human activity pressure was poor,with only the Lu’s giant salamander reserve having a protective effect in alleviating human activity pressure;Under the scenario of setting a buffer zone of 2 km and 5 km,the protection effect of the Tuanhe Wetland Nature Reserve is the worst;The Danjiang Wetland Nature Reserve has the worst protection effect when the buffer zone is set at10 km.From 2016 to 2020,the Danjiang Wetland,Nanyang Dinosaur Egg Fossil Group,Lu’s Giant Salamander,and Xixia Giant Salamander were well protected,while the Funiushan Nature Reserve had the worst protection effect.Overall,the protection effect of provincial-level nature reserves is better than that of national level nature reserves,and the protection effect of nature reserves from 2016 to 2020 is better than that of 2013 to 2016.(4)In terms of influencing factors of natural reserves: From the perspective of the overall protected area,the annual average precipitation change,initial population density,and multi-year average precipitation play a leading role in alleviating the pressure of human activities and protecting the effectiveness.Changes in GDP,average annual temperature,and the distance to the nearest road also have a certain impact on the protection effectiveness of protected areas.The main influencing factors vary among different nature reserves,with temperature and precipitation being the most effective factors in alleviating human activity pressure in a single protected area.It is recommended to strengthen the construction of management and protection personnel in the protected area,increase financial investment in scientific research,improve relevant laws and regulations,control the growth of building area,arable land area,and road network density within the protected area,and coordinate the relationship between the development and protection of the protected area.