Abstract
Through history, the habitats of wild mammals have changed greatly in China. Habitat changes may reflect changes in the environment and human–wildlife conflicts. This study focused on how the habitat changed for six taxa of rare wild mammals (one family, one genus, and four species) in mainland China. Their historical and current habitats were estimated according to their historical and current presence occurrences and three sets of environmental data (climate data, topography data, and human activity data), using the Maximum Entropy Model. Then, spatial statistical methods were used to analyze the changes in their habitats, and how human activities have influenced changes in their habitat. The results suggest that the habitats of all six taxa of mammals have shrunk considerably, compared to their historical ranges. With regards to current or past habitats, on average, 68.3% of habitats have been lost. The Asian elephant, which is facing the most serious habitat losses, has lost 93.1% of its habitat. By investigating the relationship between the changes in habitats and the anthropogenic impacts for each taxa, human activities have an obvious negative influence on mammal habitats. The sensitivity of habitats to human activities varies among different mammals: the tiger, Asian elephant, Bactrian camel, and snub-nosed monkey are more sensitive to human activities than musk deer and Chinese water deer.
Highlights
The distribution of wild animals has undergone substantial changes in China
Due to the absence of historical human activity data, it is assumed that human activities in the current period have had a much greater effect on current habitat ranges than during the historical period
We examined the changes in the historical and current habitats of six taxa of mammals
Summary
The distribution of wild animals has undergone substantial changes in China. Many wild animals, which were once widely distributed across China, are nowadays endangered or even extinct. Records of the distribution of wild animals can be traced back to prehistoric cave paintings. Due to the vagueness of the delineation of species and of taxonomies used during different periods of history, the historical distribution of wild animals in China is unclear. Wen have contributed to the identification and verification of several ancient and modern species of wild animals [1,2], with ancient and modern species distribution maps being one of their most important contributions. Long [5,6] detailed the historical distribution of introduced animals to illustrate their attempts at translocation to support decision making on methods for dealing with introduced species. Landman et al [7] used written records and supporting records to map the distribution of several larger animals in historical times with biomes and bioregions, and interpreted their historical spatial patterns
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
