The creation of nature reserves is the most direct way to save endangered species populations and their habitat. Development of the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) nature reserve network in China was initiated in the 1960s, though the effort to create new reserves boomed considerably after the year 2000. Given this rapid development of protected areas in panda habitats, and the potential c...

The Convention on Biological Diversity commits the 177 signatory countries to conserve and sustainably use biological diversity. The long-term conservation of biodiversity requires an understanding of the processes that allow species to persist in natural as well as human-dominated ecosystems. During most of the 20th century, nature reserves and national parks have been a cornerstone in the pre...

Evaluating the effectiveness of existing nature reserve systems for the conservation of tropical forests is an urgent task to save the remaining biodiversity. Here, we tested the effectiveness of the reserve system on Hainan Island by conducting a three-way comparison of changes in forest area in locations within the reserves, adjacent to the reserves, and far outside of the reserves. We used a...

Using total counts in simultaneous annual surveys, we monitored the population size and spatial distribution of oriental white storks (Ciconia boyciana) wintering in Poyang Lake between 1998 and 2011. Results showed that Poyang Lake wetland is an important wintering ground for oriental white storks, with an annual average population number of 2 305±326. The population sizes in 2004, 2005, 2010,...

Military training generates frequent and irregular disturbance followed by succession, resulting in fine-scaled mosaics of ecological conditions in military training areas (MTAs). The awareness that MTAs may represent important biodiversity sanctuaries is increasing recently. Concurrently, changes in military doctrine are leading to abandonment of many MTAs, which are being brought under civili...

Population viability of the giant panda ( Ailuropoda melanoleuca ) is threatened by small population sizes in scattered isolated habitat areas. Designing a conservation plan for protecting and connecting the fragmented habitat will improve the chances for survival of this endangered species. For such a plan, this study assessed the overall habitat suitability for the species in the Qionglai mou...

Обобщены результаты исследований брифолоры комплексных заказников Воронежской области (регионального значения). В составе бриофлоры выявлено 126 видов мохообразных, из них 10 занесены в Красную книгу области. На основе данных о ландшафтном и бриофлористическом разнообразии, доле редких дана оценка природоохранной значимости заказников. Наиболее существенный вклад территориальную охрану мохообра...