Identification Of Conservation Priority Areas And Construction Of Protection Network For The Representative Wildlife In Northeast China

China is one of the countries with the richest biodiversity in the world.The biodiversity loss has been decelerated owing to the continuous promotion of the Ecological Civilization Construction in recent years.However,the protected area system still suffers from some problems such as low consistency between protected area and the pattern of biodiversity.Knowledge of the ecological geographical characteristics and conservation priority areas for the species are the foundation for in-situ conservation of biodiversity.It can also provide reference for conservation decisions making.Northeast China forest region is the largest natural forest in China.However,many rare and endangered species have become endangered due to anthropogenic disturbances,including illegal poaching,habitat deforestation,etc.In view of the urgency of endangered species conservation,eight representative endangered wildlife species inhabiting Northeast China forest ecosystems were used as the research objects in this study.Firstly,we integrated ensemble models with species distribution information of each representative endangered wildlife species collected from 2016 to 2021 to predict the species potential distribution.In addition,we analyzed the conservation status of the species based on the spatial layout of protected areas.Meanwhile,hotspots of multi-species were detected by using geographic information system.Then,we prioritized the landscape for single and multiple species protection based on the conservation cost to improve the protection management in Zonation 4.00.Using the anthropogenic pressures data,we also evaluated the anthropogenic pressures of the species potential distribution and conservation priority areas.Furthermore,we analyzed the role of key state-owned forest areas for species conservation.Finally,we used umbrella species(Siberian musk deer)as a case study analyzed habitat fragmentation in different eco-geographical regions,identified potential connectivity corridors and constructed a potential protection network based on the least-cost path and the circuit theory.The main conclusions are as follows:(1)The potential distribution of black-billed capercaillie,black grouse,wolverine and moose are now limited to,and concentrated in,the core areas of the Greater Khingan Mountains and the northwest corner of Lesser Khingan Mountains.Mean annual temperature and anthropogenic disturbance were the most important variables impacting distribution.Sable,Siberian musk deer and lynx were widely distributed in the Greater Khingan Mountains,Lesser Khingan Mountains,Zhangguangcai Mountains,Changbai Mountains.Precipitation and anthropogenic disturbance were the most important variables impacting these species distribution.Otters were mainly distributed in the upper rivers with low anthropogenic disturbance.The most important variable impacting otter’s distribution was the distance from river.Among the eight representative species,the potential distribution of the wolverine faced the lowest anthropogenic pressure,followed by the moose,black-billed capercaillie and black grouse,while the lynx,Siberian musk deer,sable and otter faced higher anthropogenic pressure.From a regional perspective,species habitats in the Jilin and Liaoning faced higher anthropogenic pressure compared with Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang.(2)The conservation priority areas of the multi-species based on the conservation cost were mainly concentrated in the northern Greater Khingan Mountains,Heihe forest area and Yichun forest area of Lesser Khingan Mountains,Wanda mountains,Zhangguangcai Mountains and Changbai Mountains,with an area of about 240,029.78 km~2.The conservation priority areas covered more than 80%of the potential habitat of all species except for the otter with 17.36%of the study area.(3)The National Park and national nature reserves only included 8.5%-16.5%of the potential distribution of the representative species(the lowest is black-billed capercaillie and the highest is sable).Although they are far from covering all the potential distribution,more than 80%of the potential distribution,conservation priority areas and hot spots were located in the forest areas of the six forest industry groups.It reflected the high protection value of key state-owned forest areas.Therefore,key state-owned forest areas may play a greater role in the protection of biodiversity following a comprehensive ban on logging in natural forests.(4)Habitat fragmentation of the Siberian musk deer mainly occurred in the Changbai Mountains and the Lesser Khingan Mountains with 18 patches and 21 patches,respectively,while the Greater Khingan Mountains only contained two core patches,indicative of high connectivity.Using Linkage Mapper GIS,we generated 69 potential connectivity corridors connecting 41 core patches.Among them,one connectivity corridor with a 2.38 km-long least-cost path was located in the Greater Khingan Mountains zone,39 connectivity corridors with least-cost paths totaling 1,179.95 km in length were located in the Lesser Khingan Mountains zone,and 29 connectivity corridors with least-cost paths totaling 1,342.09 km in length were located in the Changbai Mountains zone.Finally,we propose that:1)for the protection of cold-temperate species,a long-term field monitoring network should be established to study biogeographic and population changes under climate change;2)selecting the eastern Northeast China as the key areas for future in-depth research and practice of conservation biology in the future;3)strengthening the protection of the otter and other aquatic wildlife,such as supervising river pollutants,banning illegal fishing,and establishing a scientific forbidden fishing period;4)the forestry department should deal with the relationship between production activities and nature conservation to protect the wildlife and plants comprehensively,such as understory management in the conservation priority area;5)areas with important conservation value in key state-owned forest land should be gradually incorporated into the protected area system to achieve systematic and complete protection of biodiversity.