Mapping the vegetation changes in giant panda habitat using Landsat remotely sensed data

Abstract

Since the 1950s, with national policy changes and socio-economic development, the habitat of the giant pandas has altered accordingly. This can also be inferred from the population changes of the giant pandas as reported in three national surveys. Thus, monitoring the changes in giant panda habitat and then taking appropriate action would be a valuable contribution to giant panda protection. In this paper, using existing habitats and potential habitats of the giant pandas as the study area, multitemporal remotely sensed data from the three national surveys are used as the data source. The land cover of the study area is mapped by the maximum likelihood classification (MLC) method. The overall accuracy and kappa statistics for the resulting classification are 0.8 and 90%, respectively. The results reveal that the current status of the giant panda habitat is very good. Between 1974 and 1989, because of deforestation in the area, the giant panda habitat deteriorated considerably; the total area of broadleaved forests, coniferous forests, mixed coniferous and deciduous broadleaved forests and shrubs decreased from 62.03% to 57.40% in the study area. However, from 1989 to 2002, due to the conservation policies put into action, the giant panda habitat recovered to some extent; the total area of broadleaved forests, coniferous forests, mixed coniferous and deciduous broadleaved forests and shrubs increased from 57.40% to 60.68% in the study area. However, conditions are different among the mountain systems. Taking into account only the total of broadleaved forests, coniferous forests, mixed coniferous and deciduous broadleaved forests and shrubs, in the Minshan mountain system, the forest cover changed from 57.70% in 1974 to 56.74% in 1989 and to 56.30% in 2002, which can be regarded as stable. In the Qinling mountain system, forested areas changed from 70.05% in 1974 to 66.93% in 1989 and to 67.17% in 2002, which reveals little change in this area. In the Qionglai mountain system, forested areas changed from 72.84% in 1974 to 71.53% in 1989 and to 73.22% in 2002; therefore, an increase can be noted in this area. In the Xiangling mountain system, forested areas also increased from 50.81% in 1974 to 50.20% in 1989 and to 53.15% in 2002. In the Liangshan mountain system, forested areas changed from 68.43% in 1974 to 55.81% in 1989 and to 60.07% in 2002. These results are in accordance with the giant panda population changes in different mountain systems. Thus, the best way to improve the threatened status of the panda population is to protect the current habitat and the potential habitat.