Xuehua Liu visited IIASA, ASA

Spatial modeling the potential corridors for wildlife migrating
in a changing environment

The current earth surface is experiencing strong change driven by both nature or/and human. This change, to some extends, has influenced the wildlife migrating due to the changed habitat conditions, and caused the formation of fragmented population of wildlife. Identifying the potential corridors for wildlife migrating or dispersing among habitat patches and exchanging among small populations is important for protecting the species. This research is trying to set up the spatial modeling methodology for corridor identification. We took giant panda as the focused species. A high-density population of giant pandas have been shown in the Qinling Mountains using the sign locations of species from the 3^rd and 4^th surveys. We investigated their core distribution areas to model and identify the potential dispersal routes among five adjacent nature reserves. We established the spatial modeling approach based on combining habitat suitability assessment (HSA) model, minimum cumulative resistance (MCR) model and Current Theory model together to explore potential dispersal routes of giant pandas. Our research revealed possible directional patterns for giant panda dispersal in their core distribution area of the Qinling Mountains, and can provide the strong recommendations in policy and conservation strategies for improving giant panda habitat management in those identified sink patches and also dispersal corridors. This combined modelling approach can be applied for other species too in various spatial scales.