Giant panda foraging and movement patterns in response to bamboo shoot growth

Mingchun Zhang,Zhizhong Zhang,Hemin Zhang,Vanessa Hull,Xiaoping Zhou,Mingsheng Hong,Jindong Zhang,Shiqiang Zhou,Zhong Li,Jinyan Huang

doi:10.1007/s11356-017-0919-9

Abstract

Diet plays a pivotal role in dictating behavioral patterns of herbivorous animals, particularly specialist species. The giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) is well-known as a bamboo specialist. In the present study, the response of giant pandas to spatiotemporal variation of bamboo shoots was explored using field surveys and GPS collar tracking. Results show the dynamics in panda-bamboo space-time relationships that have not been previously articulated. For instance, we found a higher bamboo stump height of foraged bamboo with increasing elevation, places where pandas foraged later in spring when bamboo shoots become more fibrous and woody. The time required for shoots to reach optimum height for foraging was significantly delayed as elevation increased, a pattern which corresponded with panda elevational migration patterns beginning from the lower elevational end of Fargesia robusta distribution and gradually shifting upward until the end of the shooting season. These results indicate that giant pandas can respond to spatiotemporal variation of bamboo resources, such as available shoots. Anthropogenic interference of low-elevation F. robusta habitat should be mitigated, and conservation attention and increased monitoring should be given to F. robusta areas at the low- and mid-elevation ranges, particularly in the spring shooting season.

Highlights

Diet plays a pivotal role in shaping the behavior and population dynamics of herbivorous foragers, including shaping the niches they occupy in dynamic environments (Simpson and Raubenheimer 2012)
Pandas have a simple digestive tract with no enzymes to digest the cellulose that is found in fibrous bamboo culms (Hu et al 2010; Li et al 2010; Wei et al 2012; Nie et al 2015), they do have adaptations that allow them to subsist on a bamboo diet such as Environ Sci Pollut Res (2018) 25:8636–8643 enlarged molars and specialized gut microbes to aid in cellulose digestion (Zhu et al 2011)
Despite the wealth of existing knowledge on panda foraging, there has not yet been a study on the adaptation of giant pandas to spatiotemporal variation of bamboo shoots. To fill this knowledge gap, in this study, we examined giant panda foraging and movement patterns in relation to the spatiotemporal variation of umbrella bamboo (Fargesia robusta) growth across space and time in Wolong National Nature Reserve, Sichuan Province, southwest China

Summary

Introduction

Diet plays a pivotal role in shaping the behavior and population dynamics of herbivorous foragers, including shaping the niches they occupy in dynamic environments (Simpson and Raubenheimer 2012). Pandas have been shown to respond to subtle spatiotemporal variation in bamboo quality and quantity via movement and seasonal foraging patterns (Hong et al 2016; Li et al 2017). They feed on bamboo culms and leaves year-round, their diet is comprised almost completely of bamboo shoots (first-year bamboo) during shooting season in spring (Schaller et al 1985; Dierenfeld 1997; Wei et al 2000). Despite the wealth of existing knowledge on panda foraging, there has not yet been a study on the adaptation of giant pandas to spatiotemporal variation of bamboo shoots. This study generated new information on the ecology of this threatened species, by providing context for understanding how pandas relate to their dynamic environments

Materials and methods

Apr 2011–27 Mar 2012

Results