Figure 1
Table
of content
1. Introduction......................................................................................................... 1 2. Basic facts about species................................................................................ 1-2 3. Habitat introduction............................................................................................ 2 4. Threat- Ecological destruction........................................................................... 3 1). Climate change 2). Human disturbance 5. Current conservation methods........................................................................ 4-5 6. Case study: Shennongjia Natural Reserve..................................................... 5-6 7. Potential issues and further improvement..................................................... 6-7 8. Reference...........................................................................................................7-8
Introduction
Figure 2. Group of Rhinopithecus
roxellana.
Rhinopithecus roxellana is an endemic primate in China, which distribute in mixed forest in mountainous area with an elevation from 1000m to 3000m. (Li et al., 2002; Pan et al., 2007; Xiang et al., 2011, cited by Luo et al., 2014). This species is known for the unique appearance and decreasing numbers. However, habitat fragmentation caused by growing human activities like infrastructure development and excessive deforestation have threaten the living situation of species. This report is divided into two sections. The first part provides the basic information about primate for example current living situation and habitat. Main factors threaten the species and habitat will be analyzed in the following part. Moreover, a case study about Shennongjia natural reserve will be examined to show the main methods utilized to protect the species.
Basic Figure 3. Rhinopithecus brelichi
facts about species
Rhinopithecus roxellana is one of the three species under genus Rhinopithecus and the common name is Golden snubnosed monkey. It is only distributed in central and northern part of China, where all display a strong seasonal character all year around and the influence of this character shows in their behavior and diet. (Li et al., 2003)
Rhinopithecus roxellana have various size of their home from 3 m2 to 30 m2 and the number of each group is normally between 70 and 300 individuals. (Tan Et al., 2007. Cited by Luo et al., 2014). The peak of mating period from August to November and the normal birth period is from March to June in next year. (Ren et al., 2003, Cited by Luo et al., 2014). Figure 5. The hierarchy is existed in the group but not very strict. One Rhinopithecus roxellana mature male monkey will be the leader in each group and Figure 3, 4, 5. comparison of appearance of could dating with several female monkeys. (2009) Figure 4. Rhinopithecus bieti
monkey species under genus Rhinopithecus.
Rhinopithecus roxellana have a wide range on their food, including fruticise lichen, seeds, leaves, fruits, even flowers and inserts, which follows the seasonal products of forest (LIU et al., 2013).
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However, according to the several researches 2000s, the population of species faces nearly a 50% fall in the past fifty years (Luo et al., 2014). Taking Shenlongjia natural reserve as an example, the record of number of species is 2000 in 1960s and then decreases to 1000 in the following 30 years. (Li et al, 2002; Zhu, 2006. Cited by Luo et al., 2014). Also, in nowadays, only 25% of population is under protection (Li, 2004). The
main factors that threaten the existence of the primate are the habitat fragmentation and illegal hunting, which will be further analyzed in the next chapter. Apart from that, the necessity of protection is not only preventing R. roxellana from extinction, but also maintain the social and ecological benefits it brings to human development. At present, Chinese government have marked it as ‘first class protection’ in national protection list. The significance of Golden snub-nosed monkey to China is similar to that of panda, which all catch much public attraction and represent the national pride because of the decrease amount and endemism of species. (Li, 2004) Besides, the protection of the R. roxellana preserves genetic diversity of species on earth, which is valuable to biological research as well. Furthermore, R. roxellana share the same habitat with many other endangered species for example, panda. Therefore, understanding the their settlement and developing the conservation of this rare mammal is protecting relating species at the same time.
Habitat
Figure 6. Natural habitat in Shennongjia area.
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introduction
The habitation of Rhinopithecus roxellana is located in broadleaf and coniferous forest in mountainous area. In China, it distributed in Sichuan, Gansu, Shanxi, Hubei province. To say it more accurately, according to the research in 2003, Golden snub-nosed monkey is more active in the primary forest and grassland is the last place they prefer to stay in forest habitat. If we define the whole forest into three parts which are primary forest, young forest, shrub forest and grassland, the primary forest is the part that least affected by human activities, which has better ecosystem and the more complex vegetation structure. Because of the less anthropogenic impact and high seasonality of the area, primary forest is rich in the biodiversity, which indicates that it could provide various food choice for the species in different seasons (Li, 2004). This assumption is proved by the research carried out from August in 2006 to July in 2008, which said that the diet of R. roxellana is changing by season. They eat lichen all year around but more flowers or bark in spring, young leaves in summer and fruits in autumn, even the seeds in following winter (LIU et al., 2013). In addition, the multifarious vegetation together with large trees allows them to camouflage to escape from potential danger. However, the research conducted in 2003 shows that less than 5% suitable habitat are under proper protection. (Li, 2004)
Threat-Ecological
destruction
To consider the species conservation from the habitat perspective, the main threat is the habitat fragmentation and ecological degradation resulted from global warning and rising human activities.
Climate change Climate change plays an important role in transforming of habitat and pushing the species under the risk of extinction in food availability. The warning environment affects the ecological habits and propagation of local flora, such as blossom and fructification time, which could result in a drop in the area of suitable habitat. It would subsequently have an impact on the diet of species and the precondition to survival is to adopt it (Luo et al., 2014).
Human disturbance Due to the development of human society, the forest is becoming the sacrifice of social progress. To deal with the growing population, vegetation are removed to make room for city development, trees are felled to be the material of construction and extensive land are taken up for agriculture or city extension, which force monkeys moving to deeper area of forest or more remote area. (Li, 2004). What is worse, it is even harder for species to adapt to the new environment at present because of the low genetic diversity (Chang et al., 2012). Large area of deforestation and frequent human intervention force the species population split into smaller groups in separated area. To survive, isolated population have to breed within a limited group, which could apparently speed up the decrease of gene diversity. The consequence is that the capability to adjust to the changing environment is weakened, which expose the Rhinopithecus roxellana in the danger of extinction in front of the natural selection and human- lead environmental changes (Chang et al., 2012). Another threat of existence is hunting. Golden snub-nosed monkey are targeted for the distinct skin, furs and even meat (Kirkpatrick 1995; Zhang & Quan, 1996). Besides, the species also killed by accident when people hunt other animals. For example, the money might be trapped by wire snare that is to catch musk deer. (2007) 3
Current
Figure 7. The monkey living in the cage.
conservation methods
There are two main approaches to protect endangered monkey species, which is ex- site conservation and on- site conservation. In first method, in earlier times, species is moved out of original habitat and housed in manmade construction. It restricts the species living area into a cage such as zoo and some research centers. Animals can not access to nature and the only meaningful activities for them every day is eating and waiting for feeding in which might lead to the stereotyped behavior. It could let species losing natural characteristics and the abilities to live in wild environment. By realizing the disadvantages of the captive method, the concept of ‘environmental enrichment’ is introduced to develop the ex- site conservation. ‘Environmental enrichment’ is to improve the living environment of captive animals by enlarge living space and encourage the natural behavior through imitating natural habitat. The enrichment in living experience mainly focus on increase complexity of environment for example providing shelter and variety of stimulations like food and smell. For gregarious animals, keep enough population in groups is important. Environmental enrichment could efficiently improve quality of their life and healthy condition. For instance, In the biologic enclosure, food is more various and the catching and searching behavior are motivated, which subsequently strengthen the balanced nutrition in diet and physical fitness. (Newberry, 1995) Also, It is found that the captive monkeys in such environment appear to be more active and behavior like jumping and climbing is considerably increased (Yu, et al., 2015). In application, many places have transformed the living space from the metal cages into the limited area in natural settings. For example the manmade shrub forest in a hilly landscape that enclosed by boundaries. It is very similar to the second preserving way but still a cage, just having a larger size and in a humanistic way. This approach is always applied for commercial purpose like zoo or when the habitat is totally changed or extremely damaged. The cost for carrying the animals and building biologic enclosure is another burden.
Figure 8. Monkeys living in manmade habitat.
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Compared to the expensive ex- site conservation, the second approach, which is on- site conservation, is more financially efficient. It is to establish nature reserve in the current habitat of species, which could be also beneficial to the existing damaged ecosystem. Much attention is paid to retain and enhance the biological value of reserve, which focus on improves the diversity of species and complexity natural components. Just
like Mcneely said in 1990, ‘it is the complicated mosaic of living organisms that interact with abiotic substances and gradients to sustain life at all hierarchical levels’ (William et al, 1995) Around 7000 reserves or parks taking up more than 650 million acres are found for species protection around the world till 1993. (WRI, 1992). These conservation areas are more sustainable and stable compared to manmade forest, which could bring social and ecological benefits to human life as well. Despite from natural disaster like flood, the only menace is hunters attracted by diverse rare animals in protected area. In the case of R. roxellana, the good example for the on- site conservation is Shennongjia Nature Reserve in China.
Case studyShennongjia Natural Reserve
Figure 9. Location of Shennongjia natural reserve in China.
Figure 10. Image of Shennongjia reserve.
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Shennongjia Nature Reserve is located in south- east part of China, which is the most eastern habitat for R. roxellana through the whole country. The area has the subtropical monscon climate and the annual average temperature is between 10 and 11 degree (Luo et al., 2014). The area is rich in flora and fauna, consisting of 1131 plant species and 264 wild animal species, which attract many experts to do relating researches every year. The ecosystem is also diverse in area, including coniferous forest, broadleaf forest, bamboo forest, bush, grassland and marsh (1992). Shennongjia area has been the habitat for R. roxellana for a long time, but the habitat is fragmented by the commercial timber logging movement during late twentieth century. The population of R. roxellana is affected by the change of environment, which drops from more than 2000 individuals in 1970 to nearly 500 individuals in 1989. (Zhu, 2003. Cited by Chang et al., 2012). To deal with the ecological plight and save the population of species, Bureau of Shennongjia Nature Reserve established in Hubei in 1982. It saves the endangered species to some extent through encouraging scientific studies and forming monitoring system towards human activities in reserve, which results in a jump in the mount of R. roxellana, which is 1000 in 2002. (Zhang et al, 2002) Also, the ecological researches about behavior and population of R. roxellana are encouraged after 1982, which could provide a theoretical base and suggestions for the following management. Furthermore, the supervision system including three Super-vision Stations and two Local Police Stations formed to restricting human activities. The contractual system is applied to all supervisors, which effectively prevent excessive logging activities and forest fire.
To the historical villages existed in the area whose lives depending on agricultural activities, the economic development is conflicted with species conservation. Lifestyle transformation is essential to residents since the traditional moneymaking ways like logging and hunting are prohibited inside of natural reserve. To crop with the problem, firstly, ’Public Compensation Policies’ is applied. For example, 500,000 kg of grain is allocated to satisfy the need of food annually. In addition, supervision office motivates local residents to do some sideline productive activities like selling Figure 11. Manmade bee hotel for wild bee relating products and develop ecotourism to improve their protection and wild honey. income. Some special products like medicinal herb and bee honey are popular in city market. Also, tourism relating to forest plays a significant role in the transformation, which developed speedily in 1990s and become a driver of surrounding development like hotels and restaurants. (Chen, Yang, and Xie, 2005)
P otential
issues and
F ur ther
improvements The establishment of natural reserve is not the end of species protection but a beginning and many problems are still remained. In this case, the real desire of people is still neglected in many situations, which specifically shows in animal annoyance, lack attention to transformation period and little community involvement in management.
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To begin with, in most policies, it only refers to the human disturbance to species in forest but few of them talk about people living inside of natural reserve and how they should self- defense in face of attack from forest. Wild animals might attack village or destroy farmland for food. Beside, from another perspective, establishment of natural reserve is not fair to local residents to some extent. Poor transportation situation and remote location of villages inside of protected area lead to the low education level and annual income of local people, which make them trapped during transformation. Their homeland is divided into species-protected area without any notification in advance and being deprived of the traditional way of living. They are forced to change and fit in the city living rules without the proper understanding of reason for changing and establishing protected area. Few educational training is put into the process to help them. Their attitudes towards the foundation of natural reserve is well illustrated in the Chinese research in 2005, in which most of people (89.3%) support the establishment but overall have a negative attitude.
87% of people felt that the living space is restricted and 81% people complained that income is reduced after protection. Only 20% interviewee understood that protection area could help to improve living environment and they can benefit from it. The only thing that agreed by all interviewees is that the effort for transformation period and maintenance is not enough. More investment is needed to promote fundamental education in distant villages. Educational training should be put into process to help them understand the value of habitat and then contribute to the conservation actively. (Chen, Yang, and Xie, 2005) Furthermore, in current situation, government dominates the management and lives of locals mostly depend on the supplements, which indicates the lack of community involvement. Nevertheless, the human rights and needs should to be realized and taken into account during managing process. ‘Community Co- management’ could be very effective, which suggests that community especially the user of source should participate in the decision- making process together with government. In a nutshell, to carry forward the sustainable long- term management, an integrate approach comprised by species conservation, habitat management and local community engagement is needed to be utilized (Young, 1997. Cited by Chen, Yang, and Xie, 2005). Further cooperation between government and local communities is also required to improve the management.
Reference Artcles: Chang, Z.F., Luo, M.F., Liu, Z.J., Yang, J.Y., Xiang, Z.F., Li, M. and Vigilant, L. (2012) ‘Human influence on the population decline and loss of genetic diversity in a small and isolated population of Sichuan snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana)’, Genetica, 140(4-6), pp. 105–114. Chen, Z., Yang, J. and Xie, Z. (2005) ‘Economic development of local communities and biodiversity conservation: A case study from Shennongjia national nature reserve, china’, Biodiversity and Conservation, 14(9), pp. 2095– 2108. Li, H., Meng, S.-J., Men, Z.-M., Fu, Y.-X. and Zhang, Y.-P. (2003) ‘Genetic Diversity and Population History of Golden Monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana)’, Genetics, 164(1), pp. 269–275. Li, Y. (2004) ‘The effect of forest clear-cutting on habitat use in Sichuan snub-nosed monkey ( Rhinopithecus roxellana ) in Shennongjia nature reserve, china’, Primates, 45(1), pp. 69–72. LIU, X., STANFORD, C.B., YANG, J., YAO, H. and LI, Y. (2013) ‘Foods eaten by the Sichuan snub-nosed monkey ( R hinopithecus roxellana ) in Shennongjia national nature reserve, china, in relation to nutritional chemistry’, American Journal of Primatology, 75(8), pp. 860–871. 7
Luo, Z., Zhou, S., Yu, W., Yu, H., Yang, J., Tian, Y., Zhao, M. and Wu, H. (2014) ‘Impacts of climate change on
the distribution of Sichuan snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana) in Shennongjia area, china’, American Journal of Primatology, 77(2), pp. 135–151. Newberry, R.C. (1995) ‘Environmental enrichment: Increasing the biological relevance of captive environments’, Applied Animal Behavior Science, 44(2-4), pp. 229–243. Tushuotianxia authority. (2009) The beauty of wildness. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id= AayYCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT74&lpg=PT74&dq= 保 护 川 金 丝 猴 的 意 义 &source=bl&ots=4_9mXmD6H3& sig=pZn9Licd6TCASKp-ZL_4ZMiRz8o&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiTg5-L4ozMAhUFSBQKHZumA_ gQ6AEIOjAF#v=onepage&q= 保护川金丝猴的意义 &f=false (Accessed: 11 April 2016). UNESCO World Heritage Centre (1992) Shennongjia nature reserve - UNESCO world heritage centre. Available at: http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/104/ (Accessed: 20 April 2016). William J. Possiel. Richard E. Saunier, and Richard A. Meganck (1995) Chapter 2 - in-situ conservation of biodiversity. Available at: http://www.oas.org/dsd/publications/unit/oea04e/ch04.htm#chapter%202%20%20%20 in%20situ%20conservation%20of%20biodiversity (Accessed: 10 April 2016). Wisconsin Primate Research Center (WPRC) Library (2007) Primate Factsheets: Golden snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus roxellana) conservation. Available at: http://pin.primate.wisc.edu/factsheets/entry/golden_snubnosed_monkey/cons (Accessed: 15 April 2016). Yu, J., Liu, X., Wang, Q. and Mo, F. (2015) ‘the influence of copper ions on antioxidant activity: Preliminary study’, Sichuan journal of zoology, 34(2), pp. 245–250.
Images: Figure 1. Available at: http://xhpfm.mobile.zhongguowangshi.com:8091/v210/newshare/537326?channel= (Accessed: 21 April 2016). Figure 2. Available at: http://story.kedo.gov.cn/stories/zrt/dw/830589_1.shtml (Accessed: 21 April 2016). Figure 3. Available at: http://www.cszoo.com.cn/i/24/55.html (Accessed: 21 April 2016). Figure 4. Available at: http://www.tibet.cn/news/szxw/200910/t20091023_512912.htm (Accessed: 21 April 2016). Figure 5. Available at: http://randomwallpapers.net/ 川 - 金丝猴 _w365544. (Accessed: 21 April 2016). Figure 6. Available at: http://blog.ulifestyle.com.hk/travel_blogger/annieyu/2013/10/14/【湖北】神農架 - 北緯 30 度 的魅力與神秘 shennongjian30° latitude/. (Accessed: 21 April 2016). Figure 7. Available at: http://file20.mafengwo.net/M00/76/E0/wKgB3FHi1DSAb-13AAMqnaAgdfg09.groupinfo. w600.jpeg (Accessed: 21 April 2016). Figure 8. Available at: http://www.cdzoo.com.cn/a/gb2312/news/jinqihuodong/2013/0725/516.html (Accessed: 21 April 2016). Figure 9. Available at: Luo, Z., Zhou, S., Yu, W., Yu, H., Yang, J., Tian, Y., Zhao, M. and Wu, H. (2014) ‘Impacts of climate change on the distribution of Sichuan snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana) in Shennongjia area, china’, American Journal of Primatology, 77(2), pp. 139. Figure 10. Available at: http://www.wanhuajing.com/d42511. (Accessed: 21 April 2016). 8
Figure 11. Available at: http://inhabitat.com/hundreds-of-beehives-hang-off-a-steep-cliff-in-china-to-save-wildhoneybees/shennongjia-beehives-2/ (Accessed: 21 April 2016).