Forest Structure & Distribution Across the Giant Panda Geographic Range

Forest Structure & Distribution Across the Giant Panda Geographic Range

Jianguo (Jack) Liu (Michigan State University)Zhiyun Ouyang (Chinese Academy of Sciences)Jiaguo Qi (Michigan State University)Andrés Viña (Michigan State University)

National Conservation ProgramsNational Conservation Programs

National Forest Conservation Program (NFCP)

Grain-to-Green Program (GTGP)

Liu et al., PNAS. 2008.

Giant Panda HabitatGiant Panda Habitat

• Forest cover (broadleaf, coniferous and mixed)

• Altitudinal range between 1200-3800 m

• < 45o slopes• > 95% of diet is

composed of bamboo

Giant Panda’s Geographic RangeGiant Panda’s Geographic Range

Historical RangeCurrent RangeRestricted to 3 Provinces

and 6 Mountain Regions

ObjectivesObjectives

Assess the spatial distribution of forests

Evaluate structural characteristics of the forests at plot scales

Develop techniques for up-scaling from plots to the entire panda geographic range

Field DataField Data

540 field plots: Forest cover/type Elevation, slope,

aspect Stem density & basal

area Tree species

composition Presence of Giant

Panda signs

MODIS 2004-2007

Forest DistributionForest Distribution

Forest Cover ~ 30% of Giant Panda Range

Coniferous ~ 48%

Deciduous Broadleaf ~ 32%

Mixed ~ 20%

Altitudinal DistributionAltitudinal Distribution

PCF – Planted Coniferous Forest

NCF – Natural Coniferous Forest

DF – Deciduous Forest

PMF – Planted Mixed Forest

MF – Mixed Forest

StructureStructure

210 tree species in 109 genera

22 Bamboo species in 6 genera

Few species are widespread across the entire study area

0

10

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60

70

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Number of Plots

Nu

mb

er o

f T

axa

Species DiversitySpecies Diversity

Species DiversitySpecies Diversity

Mantel TestsInter-plot Floristic & RS Similarity Matrices

Mantel TestsInter-plot Floristic & RS Similarity Matrices

Euclidean/Jaccard Matrices

Tree Spp. Similarity p-value

Spectral Similarity 0.133 < 0.05

NDVI Time Series Similarity

0.360 < 0.001

VARI Time Series Similarity

0.382 < 0.001

Floristic and Phenologic OrdinationsFloristic and Phenologic Ordinations

Floristic – Non-metric multidimensional scaling

Phenologic – Polar Coordinate Transformation

Floristic vs. PhenologicFloristic vs. Phenologic

Nature Reserve RepresentationNature Reserve Representation

ConclusionsConclusions

Forest constitutes a dominant land cover type

Altitudinal gradient explains the distribution of forest types

Significant structural differences occur among forest types

ConclusionsConclusions

A significant relation was found between floristic and phenologic similarities

Time series of VARI exhibited the highest relationship with floristic similarity

Time series of vegetation indices thus constitute suitable surrogates for evaluating floristic similarity across large geographic regions.

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