Rapid economic development and human population growth over the last century have greatly intensified the threats to Earth’s ecosystems, and especially to endangered species. Finding a balance between conservation and development is still a challenge globally, and even more difficult in countries with large populations such as China. The Jing-Jin-Ji (JJJ) region is the national capital region of China, and is the biggest urbanized region in Northern China, which includes an economic region surrounding Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei. In 2016, JJJ region produced 10% of China’s GDP, which is in part due to recent, extensive infrastructure projects. As a recently emerged economic center, the JJJ region has seen expanded land use for agriculture, logging, and human settlement throughout a group of developed and urbanized cities. Land use changes and associated pressures strongly reduce local terrestrial biodiversity. For this reason, land use change is becoming a force of global importance, although it has generally been considered a local environmental issue. Several decades of research have repeatedly demonstrated the declines in biodiversity due to the loss, modification, and fragmentation of habitats, degradation of soil and water, and over exploitation of native species.

Protected areas (e.g. nature reserves and natural parks) represent a cornerstone of efforts to safeguard biodiversity and provide a host of ecosystem services based on providing refuges to biodiversity and limiting human impact on biodiversity. The global coverage of protected areas has increased rapidly from 1990 (13.4 million km²) to 2014 (32 million km²), with a total of 209,000 protected areas that cover 3.4% of the ocean and 15.4% of the terrestrial surface of the world. In China, the most important protected areas are the nature reserves, which have doubled in number from 2001 (1227) to 2018 (2750), increasing the total land coverage from 9.95 to 14.83% of China.

Chinese nature reserves are designed to include three functional zones, i.e. a core zone, buffer zone and experimental zone. The core zone is designed to protect natural ecosystems and the important habitat of endangered species, and it is surrounded by a buffer zone to human impacts on natural ecosystems and the habitat of the species. The experimental zone, which surrounds the buffer zone, allows human development. These zoning patterns were designed to emphasizing the coordination of species and habitat diversity, while promoting harmony between human development and wildlife. Although China’s nature reserves serve moderately well for birds and mammals, many other major taxa that are key regulators of ecosystems services are not well protected. Assessing the efficacy of protected areas for conservation is a critical role of conservation biology.

As one of the most threatened groups of birds, galliforms (Order Galliformes) are sensitive to land use change and habitat degradation. Brown Eared-pheasant (Crossoptilon mantchuricum) is a globally threatened galliform endemic to forests in northern China. This pheasant is currently listed as vulnerable to extinction IUCN red list of Threatened Species and classified as high priority for conservation in China. Populations of Brown Eared-pheasant have declined over the twentieth century as their habitat became increasingly isolated and fragmented. Currently, there are only three populations limited to the Luliang Mountains of western Shanxi Province, the mountains of north-western Hebei Province, and western Beijing and central Shaanxi Province.

The east population of Brown Eared-pheasant has been long isolated and has the lowest population density. The Xiaowutaishan National Nature Reserve (XNNR) and the Baihuashan National Nature Reserve (BNNR) were established in 2002 and 2008, respectively, to protect Brown Eared-pheasant. These two national nature reserves were also established as a part of eight sibling national nature reserves for Brown Eared-pheasant conservation. However, these reserves have had mixed success. Although the density of BNNR populations increased from 0.98 individual/km² in 1993 to 2.66 individual/km² in 2017 , the density of XNNR populations decreased from 11.45 individual/km² in 1996 to 3.68 individual/km² in 2017.

To assess the ability of nature reserves to conservation of endangered species in highly urbanized regions, we used the Brown Eared-pheasant as a case study. Specifically, we used species distribution models (SDMs) and fragmentation analysis to assess the spatial and temporal dynamics of eastern populations of Brown Eared-pheasant. Our objectives were to: (1) assess Brown Eared-pheasant habitat suitability in the highly urbanized area of the eastern populations; (2) explore habitat change from 1995 to 2013 to identify conservation gaps; and (3) analyze the degree of habitat fragmentation. Our results provide proscriptive conservation information for the Brown Eared-pheasant and the two nature reserves, as well as demonstrate how conservation strategies can be formulated in highly urbanized regions.

Regards,

Jessica

Managing editor

International journal of pure and applied zoology