GIS application in evaluating the potential habitat of giant pandas in Guanyinshan Nature Reserve, Shaanxi Province

Habitat is the place where animals live, which is directly related to animal population. In recent years, habitat fragmentation has caused serious impacts on wildlife due to human activities. The effect on animal population has become one of the most important issues. Guanyinshan Nature Reserve (GNR) is located in the middle of the Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi Province, which connects two local populations of giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuc). In this research, the suitability of potential habitat in GNR was analyzed and evaluated by using GIS technology in order to get a comprehensive grasp of the habitat quality spatially. Our results show that (1) when not considering human activities, the “most suitable” potential habitat covers 6.03 ha occupying 0.04% of the total area with main reason of very occasional distribution of Bashania fargesii. The unsuitable potential habitat covers 1097.10 ha occupying 7.63% of the total area with very low bamboo density. The area of “suitable” and “marginally suitable” habitat is 12767.94 ha and 506.70 ha, with the proportion of 88.81% and 3.52% of the whole reserve respectively. (2) When considering the impact of residences and roads, the proportion of unsuitable area increases to 16.81%. Compared with the potential habitat under no considering impact of human activities, the ratio of unsuitable area increases by 9.18%. The percentage of “suitable” habitat decreases from 88.81% to 61.89% of the total area while the proportion of “marginally suitable” habitat increases from 3.52% to 21.26%. In the future, one way of protecting the habitat and the giant panda population, is to reduce human activities as much as possible. The other way is to implement proper scientific management and effective measures to promote regeneration and restoration of the habitat that has been impacted or destroyed.