Is Xishuangbanna protected?

Currently, 20% of Xishuangbanna is in protected areas. Unprotected forest is disproportionately on steep slopes at high altitudes, while biodiversity is highest in valleys and at low altitudes, where only smaller patches remain, creating challenges for conservation planning.

Is Xishuangbanna a threat to biodiversity and ecosystem services?

The expansion of rubber and tea cultivation in Xishuangbanna has made a major contribution to poverty reduction and the growth of the local economy (Lan et al. 2017), but it has also posed a serious threat to biodiversity and ecosystem services (Chen et al. 2016).

Where is Xishuangbanna located?

Map of Xishuangbanna showing its location in SW China, near the borders with Myanmar and Laos, and the Nature Reserves Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture (21°08′N–22°36′N, 99°56′E–101°50′E) is located in Yunnan Province, southwest China, on the borders with Laos and Myanmar (Fig. 1).

Where is Xishuangbanna Dai located?

Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture (21°08′N–22°36′N, 99°56′E–101°50′E) is located in Yunnan Province, southwest China, on the borders with Laos and Myanmar (Fig. 1). It covers only 0.2% of China’s land area, but harbors 16% of the vascular flora, 22% of mammals, and 36% of birds found in the country (Zhang and Cao 1995).

Does Xishuangbanna have a forest fragmentation rate?

Throughout the study period, most (> 93%) of the total forest area in Xishuangbanna was in patches > 100 ha, but the proportion in medium-size patches (10–100 ha) increased 3-fold (from 1 to 3%). Table 3 Forest fragmentation indices for Xishuangbanna from 2002 to 2018

Why is Xishuangbanna a good study area for fragmentation studies?

This method is particularly useful for fragmentation studies in fine-grained, highly heterogeneous landscapes, such as our study area in Xishuangbanna, tropical southwest China (Fig. 1), where the expansion of rubber and other cash crops has caused massive forest loss and fragmentation, particularly in the last 20 years.