Impact of rapid transportation network on the potential habitat of Hydropotes inermis in suburban areas

Key words: 
• zoology /
• Hydropotes inermis /
• rapid transportation network /
• Maxent （maximum entropy） model /
• potential habitat /
• hot spot analysis

Abstract: Knowledge of habitat dynamics could influence wildlife protection policy. The purpose of the paper is to quantify the impact of rapid transportation network on the potential habitat of wildlife in suburban areas so as to provide scientific basis for the plan making of rapid transportation network and biodiversity conservation. In this research，Hydropotes inermis，an endangered，wild mammal in the eastern suburbs of Nanjing City were studied with main information sources being remote sensing images from China Brazil Earth Resources Satellite （CBERS） in 2006 and Disaster and Environment Monitoring and Forecast Small Satellite Constellation A （HJ-1A） in 2011 along with 47 trace point data with geographical coordinates. Dynamic changes in landscape patterns due to high speed traffic networks in the eastern suburbs of Nanjing were analyzed first. Then，Max-ent （maximum entropy） modeling for an ecological niche was applied to predict a potential habitat for Hydropotes inermis. Finally，impact of this high speed traffic network on the predicted potential habitat was determined. Results showed that （1） from 2006 to 2011，the high speed traffic network in the eastern suburbs of Nanjing became more complex with road density increasing from 1 116.27 to 1 371.95 mkm-2. （2） Compared with a corridor pattern in 2006，the potential habitat for Hydropotes inermis in 2011 decreased showing a bird cage effect which resulted in a fragmented forest island spatial pattern. （3） Also，distance to roads and distance to settlements were the two human disturbance factors which determined the suitable probability of potential habitat for Hydropotes inermis. It can be inferred from the paper that rapid developing transportation network is the enforcing factor leading to the habitat fragmentation of wildlife in suburban areas. Therefore，ecological corridors between green lands of Mount Zijin，Qinglong，Tangshan in study area should be established to mitigate the negative impact of transportation on the wildlife habitats.［Ch，4 fig. 2 tab. 11 ref.］