Simulation of Human Activity Intensity and Its Influence on Mammal Diversity in Sanjiangyuan National Park, China

Changbai Xi,Yao Chi,Wenhan Zhang,Tianlu Qian,Jiechen Wang

doi:10.3390/su12114601

Abstract

The rapid pace of development in western China has brought about inevitable concerns for environmental conditions and their management. The Sanjiangyuan National Park strives to address concerns for sustainable water resources management and biodiversity management, especially for the protection of endangered flora and fauna. In this study, a machine learning model (MaxEnt) was used to predict the human activity intensity and its effects on species in Sanjiangyuan protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The model used human settlements as input and datasets such as terrain factors, climate, and artificial structures as environmental factors. The results showed that human activity intensity was significantly different between the East and the West. The area with the highest human activity intensity was Yushu County in the south area, and Xinghai-Zeku County in the east. By comparing the mammal richness with human activity intensity, we found human–wildlife coexistence in Sanjiangyuan. A detailed analysis on the CITES protected species showed that many important species, such as snow leopards, red pandas, and small Indian civets, occupied areas with high human activity intensity. The national park protects 3/4 CITES species with 1/3 in the area of the Sanjiangyuan region, owing to the relatively low human activity intensity.

Highlights

The extinction of mammals has become a global problem due to human activities [1,2]
With the rapid pace of development in western China, ecologists are becoming increasingly concerned with environmental conditions and their management
The most parsimonious MaxEnt model relating the occurrence of settlements to explanatory variables showed a good fit (AUC-train = 0.995; Area under the receiver operator curve (AUC)-test = 0.871)

Summary

Introduction

The extinction of mammals has become a global problem due to human activities [1,2]. Studies show that most areas of land and sea are affected by human activities [3,4]. Natural habitats have been increasingly affected due to human activity and other reasons. The distribution area of wild yak is shrinking to remote alpine regions from human settlements, in response to climate change and the intensifying of human activities on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau [5]. It is believed that artificial structures such as roads, fences, and agriculture lead to drastic changes in land cover and can destroy animal habitats [9,10,11]. Encroachment, and illegal harvesting damages biodiversity and ecosystem stability [12,13]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion