Key Laboratory of Southwest China Wildlife Resources Conservation (Ministry Of Education), China West Normal University, Nanchong, 637002, China.
Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, 610041, China.
Sci Rep. 2019 Feb 1;9(1):1110. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-37447-0.
Few studies have focused on the mountain ranges scale effects of roads on wildlife. This lack of data could lead to an underestimation of the negative impact of roads on animal populations. We analyzed a dataset that included 74.4% of the giant panda population and covered 78.7% of the global giant panda habitat to estimate road-effect zones for major roads, and to investigate how these major roads influenced the distribution of giant pandas on a mountain range spatial scale. We found that the density of giant panda signs was significantly decreased by proximity to major roads. The effect zone reached 5,000 m from national roads and 1,500 m from provincial roads. Structural equation model analysis revealed that the strongest negative impact of major roads on giant pandas was via the reduction of nearby forest cover. The results should provide a better understanding of the impact of anthropogenic infrastructure and regional economic development on wildlife, thus providing a basis for conservation policy decisions. We suggest that the environmental impact assessment of proposed roadways or further researches on road ecological effects should expand to a larger scale and consider the possible habitat degradation caused by road access.
鲜有研究关注道路对野生动物的山脉尺度影响。这种数据的缺乏可能导致对道路对动物种群的负面影响的低估。我们分析了一个包含 74.4%大熊猫种群和覆盖 78.7%全球大熊猫栖息地的数据组，以估计主要道路的道路影响带，并研究这些主要道路如何在山脉空间尺度上影响大熊猫的分布。我们发现，大熊猫标志的密度随着与主要道路的接近而显著降低。国家级道路的影响带可达 5000 米，省级道路可达 1500 米。结构方程模型分析表明，主要道路对大熊猫的最大负面影响是通过减少附近的森林覆盖。研究结果应更好地了解人为基础设施和区域经济发展对野生动物的影响，从而为保护决策提供依据。我们建议，拟议道路的环境影响评估或进一步研究道路生态效应应扩大到更大的范围，并考虑道路可达性可能导致的栖息地退化。
