Impact of earthquake-induced landslide on the habitat suitability of giant panda in Wolong, China

Abstract

Massive geological landslides and unstable landslide areas were triggered by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. These landslides caused deaths, damaged infrastructure and threatened endanger species. This study analyzed the impact of landslides on giant pandas and their habitats from the following aspects: threatening pandas’ lives, damaging pandas’ habitat, influencing giant panda behavior, increasing habitat fragmentation; the final aspect, and blocking gene flow by cutting off corridors. A habitat suitability map was created by integrating the landslide factors with other traditional factors based on a logistics regression method. According to the landslide inventory map, there are 1313 landslides, 818 rock debris flows, 117 rock avalanches and 43 mud flows occurred in the study area. A correlation analysis indicated that landslides caused the pandas to migrate, and the core landslides within 1 km2 had greater influence on panda migration. These core landslides primarily occurred in mid-altitude regions characterized by high slopes, old geological ages, large areas and large rock mass volumes. The habitat suitability assessment results for the Wolong Natural Reserve had better prediction performance (80.9%) and demonstrated that 14.5%, 15.9%, 20.5%, 47.6% and 1.5% of the study area can be classified as very high, high, moderate, low and very low giant panda suitability areas, respectively. This study can be used to inform panda and panda habitat research, management and protection during post-quake reconstruction and recovery periods in China.