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Reassessing the conservation status of the giant panda using remote sensing

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 1, pages 1635–1638 (2017)Cite this article

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Abstract

The conservation status of the iconic giant panda is a barometer of global conservation efforts. The IUCN Red List has downgraded the panda’s extinction risk from “endangered” to “vulnerable”. Newly obtained, detailed GIS and remotely sensed data applied consistently over the last four decades show that panda habitat covered less area and was more fragmented in 2013 than in 1988 when the species was listed as endangered.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recently changed the status of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) from “endangered” to the less threatened “vulnerable”1. The justification was the observed increase in the adult population from the second national survey (1985–1988) to the fourth survey (2011–2014). Data collection methods, analyses, and sampling area were inconsistent, however, and this makes comparisons difficult. For instance, surveyed areas changed from 49 counties for the second survey2, to 57 counties for the third survey3, and to 62 counties for the fourth4. The increase to the fourth survey likely reflects there being more habitat and that the pandas are expanding their range.

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Fig. 1: Area, isolation and protection status in nature reserves for giant panda habitat.
Fig. 2: Giant panda habitat changes between 1976 and 2013, and proposed panda reserves and corridors.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 41671534), Ministry of Science and Technology through the National Key Programme of Research and Development Project (2016YFC0503200), State Forestry Administration, Worldwide Fund for Nature, and U.S. National Science Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100085, Beijing, China

    Weihua Xu, Lingqiao Kong, Jingjing Zhang, Yi Xiao, Lu Zhang & Zhiyun Ouyang

  2. Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48823-5243, USA

    Andrés Viña & Jianguo Liu

  3. Department of Geography, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA

    Andrés Viña & Xiaodong Chen

  4. University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100049, Beijing, China

    Lingqiao Kong & Jingjing Zhang

  5. Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Box 90328, Durham, NC, 27708, USA

    Stuart L. Pimm

  6. College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, 310058, Hangzhou, China

    Wu Yang

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  1. Weihua Xu
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  2. Andrés Viña
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  8. Lu Zhang
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  9. Xiaodong Chen
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  10. Jianguo Liu
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Contributions

W.X., A.V., S.L.P., J.L., and Z.O. designed research; W.X., A.V., L.K., J.Z., Y. X., and L.Z., performed research; W.X., L.K., J.Z., W.Y., and L.Z. analysed data; and W.X., A.V., S.L.P., W.Y., X.C., J.L., and Z.O. wrote the paper.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Stuart L. Pimm or Zhiyun Ouyang.

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Xu, W., Viña, A., Kong, L. et al. Reassessing the conservation status of the giant panda using remote sensing. Nat Ecol Evol 1, 1635–1638 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-017-0317-1

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