Effectiveness of national nature reserve network in representing natural vegetation in mainland China

Abstract

The conservation of natural vegetation directly impacts biodiversity conservation; thus, it is important to evaluate the effectiveness of vegetation protection in nature reserve networks. In this study, ArcGIS 10.0 was used for gap analysis of terrestrial vegetation protection within the national nature reserve network in mainland China. Overall, 9.75 % of the land area was covered by 366 national nature reserves. The bias of the protection ratio was particularly obvious among the different vegetation regions, zones, provinces and districts. The warm temperate deciduous broadleaf forest region was the least protected (1.84 %), and most of the NNRs were located in the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau alpine vegetation region (35.8 %). Moreover, in most vegetation zones (57.14 %), less than 5 % of the area was protected, and in vegetation provinces and vegetation districts, 8.85 and 35.87 %, respectively, were not protected by national nature reserves. However, the number of national nature reserves could be higher in these vegetation zones, provinces and districts than in other areas. The protection bias became more significant as the analysis scale decreased. In addition, nearly 25 % of the natural formations in mainland China were unprotected by national nature reserves. A bias was also observed in the protection of different natural formations, with a lack or lower degree of protection for desert, grass-forb community, steppe, and scrub biomes, which were spread throughout northwest and eastern China. A distinct lack of protected areas was observed in certain parts of the country. Therefore, additional land may require protection in the vegetation provinces and districts in the Tianshan Mountains, Junggar Basin, West Kunlun Mountains, Loess Plateau, and karst districts in southwest Guangxi Province and along the southeast coast of China.