Landscape Fragmentation in Qinling–Daba Mountains Nature Reserves and Its Influencing Factors

Yingzhuo Zhang,Lianqi Zhu,Haoran Yin,Changhong Miao

doi:10.3390/land10111124

Abstract

Climate change and intensified human activity have altered the landscape pattern of nature reserves and are expected to induce persistent changes in habitat quality. Using GIS technology and landscape ecological theories, we quantitatively analyzed landscape fragmentation characteristics and the driving factors for the interior and peripheries of the Qinling–Daba Mountains nature reserves during 2010–2017. Using spatial principal component analysis, landscape pattern indices, and Geodetector, we evaluated the habitat quality status of different nature reserve types in different regions and the impacts of human disturbance on these areas. The results are as follows: (1) Most national nature reserves in the Qinling–Daba Mountains were moderately or highly fragmented during 2010–2017, and the fragmentation degree of a few reserves exhibited a decreasing trend. (2) The fragmentation degree of landscape patches from the core areas to the experimental areas of the inner nature reserves showed a trend of being low in the middle and high in the surrounding area; the level of landscape fragmentation gradually decreased from the edge of 1 km (M-1) to 5 km (M-5). (3) There was spatial differentiation in the intensity of landscape fragmentation among the nature reserves; human activity intensity, land-use degree, elevation, slope gradient, and topographic relief were the factors influencing the spatial differentiation of landscape fragmentation, and the contribution of anthropogenic factors was significantly greater than that of natural factors. Human activities, such as the construction of network infrastructures, irrational partition management, expansion of agricultural and industrial production activities, were the main reasons for the spatial differentiation of landscape fragmentation in the nature reserves. These results can provide significant scientific support for ecological restoration in the nature reserves and contribute to the coordinated development between socio-economic system and ecological environment in the exceedingly impoverished areas.

Highlights

Landscape fragmentation is an intrinsic driver of habitat quality deterioration and a major cause of ecosystem degradation and biodiversity reduction [1,2]
This study aimed to provide a reference for the precise management of nature reserves in China’s north–south transitional zone affected by climate change and anthropogenic activities
Mountains as research objects to explore the degree of landscape fragmentation and its influencing factors in the Qinling–Daba Mountains from 2010 to 2017

Summary

Introduction

Landscape fragmentation is an intrinsic driver of habitat quality deterioration and a major cause of ecosystem degradation and biodiversity reduction [1,2]. Nature reserves have been regarded as an important tool for protecting habitat integrity and species diversity. The landscape ecosystems of nature reserves bordering densely populated areas have undergone significant changes, affecting the balance of ecosystem diversity; landscape fragmentation is the main cause of these changes [7]. Effective and precise conservation is a critical method for avoiding biodiversity loss and maintaining ecosystem balance [8]. In the face of potential threats due to the presence of multiple internal and external environmental factors, the timeliness of the scope of nature reserves and the sustainability of the related policy and regulations requires substantial research support, especially in developing areas where coordinated development and ecological protection are the top priorities. The number of nature reserves in China has increased rapidly, but conservation benefits have not improved [9]

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