Stepping Stone Strategy: A Cost-Effective Way to Address Habitat Fragmentation of Endangered Wildlife in Montane Forest
Habitat fragmentation affects the survival of wildlife and is a main threat to biodiversity. Corridors are frequently used to alleviate habitat fragmentation. However, corridors are costly and often ineffective in practice. Endangered species in montane regions are particularly affected by habitat f...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Ecosystem Health and Sustainability |
| Online Access: | https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/ehs.0073 |
| _version_ | 1797810757036933120 |
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| author | Haohan Wang Ying Gao Yanpeng Li Na Li Cyril C. Grueter Huiming Xu Zhipang Huang Liangwei Cui Wen Xiao |
| author_facet | Haohan Wang Ying Gao Yanpeng Li Na Li Cyril C. Grueter Huiming Xu Zhipang Huang Liangwei Cui Wen Xiao |
| author_sort | Haohan Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Habitat fragmentation affects the survival of wildlife and is a main threat to biodiversity. Corridors are frequently used to alleviate habitat fragmentation. However, corridors are costly and often ineffective in practice. Endangered species in montane regions are particularly affected by habitat fragmentation and therefore require economic and efficient conservation strategies. We propose a stepping stone strategy (SSS) to deal with habitat fragmentation threatening an endangered primate, the black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti). We selected the southern range of R. bieti as the study area, which covers 3,580 km2. We evaluated the habitat status and formulated an SSS based on the dispersal ability of an adult male R. bieti. Six sustainable habitat patches and 340 natural stepping stones were detected. Thirteen artificial stepping stones are needed to establish weak connectivity of habitats. Forty-four stepping stones are proposed as key stepping stones for attaining strong connectivity. The SSS is projected to incur substantially less pecuniary investment than the corridor strategy (0.06 million versus 5.65 million, USD). We conclude that 5 steps are needed for the SSS: (a) assessing the status of habitats to plan restorative intervention activities, (b) designing artificial stepping stones to weakly link sustainable habitats, (c) proposing corridors to allow for a stable connection between sustainable habitats, (d) identifying key stepping stones to establish small protected area, and (e) recovery of fragmented habitat and reinstatement of sustainable habitat. Our study suggests that SSS is a cost-effective and practical way for maintaining connectivity and supporting habitat recovery for endangered wildlife in montane regions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T07:13:33Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0656784291a046cc83f16bd3351b444f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2332-8878 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T07:13:33Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecosystem Health and Sustainability |
| spelling | doaj.art-0656784291a046cc83f16bd3351b444f2023-06-05T13:44:41ZengAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)Ecosystem Health and Sustainability2332-88782023-01-01910.34133/ehs.0073Stepping Stone Strategy: A Cost-Effective Way to Address Habitat Fragmentation of Endangered Wildlife in Montane ForestHaohan Wang0Ying Gao1Yanpeng Li2Na Li3Cyril C. Grueter4Huiming Xu5Zhipang Huang6Liangwei Cui7Wen Xiao8Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan 671003, China.Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan 671003, China.Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan 671003, China.Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan 671003, China.International Centre of Biodiversity and Primates Conservation, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan 671003, China.Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan 671003, China.Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan 671003, China.Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan 671003, China.Institute of Eastern-Himalaya Biodiversity Research, Dali University, Dali, Yunnan 671003, China.Habitat fragmentation affects the survival of wildlife and is a main threat to biodiversity. Corridors are frequently used to alleviate habitat fragmentation. However, corridors are costly and often ineffective in practice. Endangered species in montane regions are particularly affected by habitat fragmentation and therefore require economic and efficient conservation strategies. We propose a stepping stone strategy (SSS) to deal with habitat fragmentation threatening an endangered primate, the black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti). We selected the southern range of R. bieti as the study area, which covers 3,580 km2. We evaluated the habitat status and formulated an SSS based on the dispersal ability of an adult male R. bieti. Six sustainable habitat patches and 340 natural stepping stones were detected. Thirteen artificial stepping stones are needed to establish weak connectivity of habitats. Forty-four stepping stones are proposed as key stepping stones for attaining strong connectivity. The SSS is projected to incur substantially less pecuniary investment than the corridor strategy (0.06 million versus 5.65 million, USD). We conclude that 5 steps are needed for the SSS: (a) assessing the status of habitats to plan restorative intervention activities, (b) designing artificial stepping stones to weakly link sustainable habitats, (c) proposing corridors to allow for a stable connection between sustainable habitats, (d) identifying key stepping stones to establish small protected area, and (e) recovery of fragmented habitat and reinstatement of sustainable habitat. Our study suggests that SSS is a cost-effective and practical way for maintaining connectivity and supporting habitat recovery for endangered wildlife in montane regions.https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/ehs.0073 |
| spellingShingle | Haohan Wang Ying Gao Yanpeng Li Na Li Cyril C. Grueter Huiming Xu Zhipang Huang Liangwei Cui Wen Xiao Stepping Stone Strategy: A Cost-Effective Way to Address Habitat Fragmentation of Endangered Wildlife in Montane Forest Ecosystem Health and Sustainability |
| title | Stepping Stone Strategy: A Cost-Effective Way to Address Habitat Fragmentation of Endangered Wildlife in Montane Forest |
| title_full | Stepping Stone Strategy: A Cost-Effective Way to Address Habitat Fragmentation of Endangered Wildlife in Montane Forest |
| title_fullStr | Stepping Stone Strategy: A Cost-Effective Way to Address Habitat Fragmentation of Endangered Wildlife in Montane Forest |
| title_full_unstemmed | Stepping Stone Strategy: A Cost-Effective Way to Address Habitat Fragmentation of Endangered Wildlife in Montane Forest |
| title_short | Stepping Stone Strategy: A Cost-Effective Way to Address Habitat Fragmentation of Endangered Wildlife in Montane Forest |
| title_sort | stepping stone strategy a cost effective way to address habitat fragmentation of endangered wildlife in montane forest |
| url | https://spj.science.org/doi/10.34133/ehs.0073 |
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