Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T04:12:43.231Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Faunal Resources of the Gaoligongshan Region of Yunnan, China: Diverse and Threatened

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Ma Shilai ,
Han Lianxian ,
Lan Daoying ,
Ji Weizhi  and
Richard B. Harris
Ma Shilai
Affiliation:
Respectively Associate Professor, Assistant Researcher, Assistant Researcher, and Centre Director, Conservation Biology Centre, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, PRC
Han Lianxian
Affiliation:
Respectively Associate Professor, Assistant Researcher, Assistant Researcher, and Centre Director, Conservation Biology Centre, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, PRC
Lan Daoying
Affiliation:
Respectively Associate Professor, Assistant Researcher, Assistant Researcher, and Centre Director, Conservation Biology Centre, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, PRC
Ji Weizhi
Affiliation:
Respectively Associate Professor, Assistant Researcher, Assistant Researcher, and Centre Director, Conservation Biology Centre, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, Yunnan 650223, PRC
Richard B. Harris
Affiliation:
Research Fellow, Wildlife Conservation Society, 185th St and Southern Boulevard, Bronx, NY 10450, USA*
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

We estimate that roughly one-third of Gaoligongshan's total area is now devoted exclusively to agriculture and other uses that preclude maintenance of biodiversity. In most cases, primary forests existing at the establishment of the three Nature Reserves have been conserved effectively. However, small-scale (but largely unmonitored and uncontrolled) tree-felling and other vegetation disturbance continues in many areas. Despite these lapses, forests are in better condition within, than outside of, established Nature Reserves. As well, the future for these forests looks brighter than for those surviving outside Reserves: at the very least, county governments are not free to convert them into pine plantations.

In contrast, hunting has been reduced only slightly — much less effectively than forest cutting has been. Although it is possible to find evidence of persistence of some rare animal species, and some Nature Reserve personnel believe there are indications that sensitive and rare species are showing an upward trend, poaching of animals is still common, particularly of smaller-bodied or lesser-known species. Although it seems well established that wellknown species (e.g. Takin) must be strictly protected, many species at equal or greater risk of extirpation and equally protected legally (e.g. some species of pheasants), do not enjoy such effective protection.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 22 , Issue 3 , Autumn 1995 , pp. 250 - 258
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bai, Y.Y. (Ed.) (1990). [A development programme on forestry in Nujiang Prefecture (Years 1991–2000) (in Chinese).] Pp. 343–65 in Nujiang Prefecture Government and Yunnan Institute of Geography. Nujiang Pretecture, China: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Dehong Prefecture (1986). [General Situation in Dehong Dai and Jingpo Nationalities Autonomous Prefecture (in Chinese).] (Dehong Prefecture Editorial Group.) Dehong People's Publishing House, Mangshi, Yunnan, China: 274 pp.Google Scholar
Guo, L.X. (Ed.) (1992). [Poverty — A Problem Facing Human Beings: A Study of Poverty Types in the Minority Areas of Yunnan Province (in Chinese).] Chinese Science and Technology Press, Beijing, China: 204 pp. + Appendices.Google Scholar
Han, L.X.* & Yang, L. (in press). [Survey Report on Birds in Southern Dulongjiang Valley, western Yunnan, China (in Chinese).] In Study on the Resource and Environment in Dulongjiang Valley (Eds W.C. Zhao & H. Li). Yunnan Science and Technology Press, Kunming, Yunnan, China: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Jiang, H.Q. (1980). Distributional characteristics and regional regularity of Yunnan vegetation (in Chinese). Acta Botanica Yunnanica, 2(1–2), [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Lan, D.Y.† (1994). [Distribution, numbers, habitat, and conservation of Hoolock gibbons in western Yunnan.] Pp. 62–80 (Eds Qiu, M.J., Lan, D.Y. & Zhu, J.G.). Academic Symposium of the Young Field Biological Investigator Program (in Chinese). Kunming Institute of Zoology, China: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Li, H.G. & Huang, R. (1990). Study on the population problem and development strategy in Nujiang Prefecture (1991–2000) (in Chinese). Pp. 165–76 in Problems and Strategies in Nujiang Prefecture. Yunnan Institute of Geography, Nujiang Pretecture, China: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Liu, D.Y. (Ed.) (1989). Nature Reserves of Yunnan Province (in Chinese). China Forestry Press, Beijing, China: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Liu, F.X. & Zhang, Z.B. (1982). Annals and Place-names of Tengchong County, Yunnan (in Chinese). Tengchong Government, China: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Ma, J.R. (1993). The conservation of biodiversity and the nature reserves. Chinese Biodiversity, 1(1), pp. 43–5.Google Scholar
Ma, S.L.*, Wang, Y.X. & Shi, L.M. (1990). A new species of genus Muntiacus from Yunnan, China (in Chinese). Zool. Res., 11(1), pp. 46–53.Google Scholar
Ma, S.L.*, Man, L.X. & Chen, Z.P. (1995). [The recent status and appraisal of economic birds and mammals in Drung River area]. Pp. 76–88 in The Becoming of Man and Nature Complex System in High Mountain and Deep Gorge Areas (Eds He, D.M., Hu, G., Gao, Y.X. & Ding, M.). Yunnan Nation Press, Kunming, Yunna, China: (in Chinese with English summary).Google Scholar
Ma, S.L., Chen, Z.P. & Wang, Y.X. (in press). A survey of the mammalian fauna in Dulong River area (in Chinese). In Study on the Resource and Environment in Dulongjiang Valley (Eds W.C. Zhao & H. Li). Yunnan Science and Technology Press, Kunming, Yunnan, China.Google Scholar
Ma, S.L., Han, L.X. & Lan, D.Y. (1994). Bird and Mammal Resources, and Nature Conservation, in the Gaoligonshan Region of Yunnan Province, People's Republic of China. (Final Report to the MacArthur Foundation, Wildlife Conservation Society, and Chinese Academy of Sciences.) Kunming Institute of Zoology, China: 116 pp.Google Scholar
McNeely, J.A. (1990). Conserving the World's Biodiversity, Chinese Ed. 1992 (Ma, W.J. Chief Translator). Science and Technology Press, Beijing, China: 94 pp.Google Scholar
Shi, L.M. & Ma, C.X. (1988). A new karyotype of muntjak (Muntiacus sp.) from Gongshan County in China (in Chinese). Zoological Research, 9, pp 345–7.Google Scholar
Wang, Y.X. & Wang, W.M. (1990). [Report of investigation on mammals in Lushui, Gaologongshan.] Pp. 293–319 in Collections of Investigations on Gaologongshan Nature Reserve (Lushui Part), Vol. 2 [in Chinese]. (Ed. Gaologongshan Nature Reserve Investigation Group): [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Wu, Z.Y., Zhang, J.Y. & Li, C. (1979). The regionalization of Chinese flora (in Chinese). Acta Botanica Yunnanica, 1(1), pp. 1–21.Google Scholar
Yunnan Mapping Bureau (1982). Yunnan Atlas (in Chinese) [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Yunnan Province Editorial Group (1987). Investigations Into the Social History of Yunnan Minority Groups (Part II): Five Types of National Minority Series (in Chinese). Yunnan People's Publishing House, Kunming, China: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Zhang, J.Z. (Ed.) (1992). Dehong Religions (in Chinese). Dehong Dai, Jingpo Autonomous Region Publishing House, Mangshi, China: 343 pp.Google Scholar
Zhang, Y.Z, (1979). The Physical Geography of China (Zoogeography) (in Chinese). Science Press, Beijing, China: 121 pp.Google Scholar
Zheng, Z.X. (1976). Distributional List of Chinese Birds (Revised Edn) (in Chinese). Science Press, Beijing, China: 1218 pp.Google Scholar
Zheng, Z.X., Feng, Z.J., Zhang, Y.Z. & Hu, S.Q. (1981). On the land-vertebrate fauna of Qinghai—Xizang Plateau with Considerations Concerning its History of Transformation. Memoirs of Beijing Natural History Museum, 9, pp. 1–21.Google Scholar