Xishuangbanna is a biodiversity hotspot for China, but is also is vulnerable to deforestation due to rapid expansion of rubber plantations. Maintaining connectivity is critical for fragmented habitat networks to retain native species. Therefore, a better understanding of connectivity may be crucial to species persistence. 

In a study published in Landscape Ecology, researchers from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) explored how to effectively target the conservation and restoration priorities in agriculture landscape which need balancing the development and conservation. 

The researchers quantified the functional connectivity changes in the forest in Xishuangbanna from 1976 to 2014 using probability of connectivity and number of components indexes.  

The importance of each forest patch during each period and the potential contribution of low-profit rubber plantation patches in 2014 was quantified and ranked by delta values for PC (dPC) index. 

They found that connectivity of forest in Xishuangbanna has progressively decreased over the last 40 years. The ten forest patches which had the highest dPC value remained almost the same for all five periods between 1976 and 2014, though relative importance varied. 

The researchers also identified and mapped the 50 most potentially important low-profit rubber plantation patches.They found that low-profit rubber plantations represent only 3.4% of the total rubber plantation area. The restoration of this small portion of rubber plantations represents a more attainable goal than complete restoration of the area. 

“Restoring low-profit rubber provides a mechanism for reconnecting the forest as an effective conservation tool. Starting with conversion of low-profit rubber provides a practical conservation solution to achieve a relative balancing between development and conservation”, said Ms.LIU Wenjun, first author of the study. 

Contact 

MA Youxin  Ph.D 

Center for Integrative Conservation, Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Menglun, Mengla, Yunnan 666303, China