Human Impacts on land Cover and Panda Habitat in Wolong Nature Reserve

Understanding patterns, processes, and consequences of land-cover change requires close linkages among various ecological, socioeconomic, demographic, and behavioral data. In this chapter, we present an interdisciplinary study of human impacts on land cover and panda habitat in Wolong Nature Reserve (China). Wolong is one of the largest reserves (200,000 ha) designated for giant panda conservation, but it also includes more than 4,000 local residents whose activities have a substantial impact on panda habitat. We have developed a conceptual framework that outlines the rationale for the linkage of various data. Our household and community surveys were linked with remote sensing and geographic information systems at three stages: data collection, data analysis, and systems modeling and simulation. The integration of various sources of data offers useful insight into the underlying mechanisms behind changes in land cover and panda habitat and allows us to project future ecological and demographic changes under different policy scenarios.