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Conservation and development in conflict: regeneration of wild Davidia involucrata (Nyssaceae) communities weakened by bamboo management in ...
Conservation and development in conflict:
                regeneration of wild Davidia involucrata (Nyssaceae)
                communities weakened by bamboo management in
                south-central China
                                                                 SHENHUA QIAN, CINDY Q. TANG, SIRONG YI, LIANG ZHAO
                                                                                      K U N S O N G and Y O N G C H U A N Y A N G

                Abstract Protected areas, including nature reserves and                                other highly valued trees that share similar life-history chara-
                management areas, are established for the conservation of                              cteristics with D. involucrata.
                biological diversity and protection of the associated natural
                                                                                                       Keywords Bamboo, China, Conservation effectiveness,
                and cultural resources. These objectives, however, are often
                                                                                                       Davidia involucrata, forest regeneration, Nyssaceae,
                in conflict with socio-economic development. We investi-
                                                                                                       protected areas, socio-ecological system
                gated the plant communities dominated by the dove tree
                Davidia involucrata in a nature reserve on Mount Jinfo,
                China, where people intensively manage large areas of bam-
                boo stands. We found a significant lack of small-sized main                            Introduction
                stems of D. involucrata (– cm diameter at breast height;
                height . . m) and newly emerging sprouts in the reserve.
                The height-class distribution showed a unimodal pattern,                               P    rotected areas, including nature reserves and manage-
                                                                                                            ment areas, are established for the effective conserva-
                                                                                                       tion of biological diversity and protection of the associated
                with most individuals (of both D. involucrata and co-occur-
                ring species) concentrated in the – m height-class, and                            natural and cultural resources (DeFries et al., ; Dudley
                few individuals in the shrub and sub-canopy layer (.– m).                           & Stoulton, ). These objectives, however, are often
                Existing practices to facilitate the spread of bamboo stands,                          in conflict with socio-economic development. Although
                and the need to develop a local market for bamboo shoots                               many proposals have been put forward to simultaneously
                received little consideration when the nature reserve was es-                          satisfy human requirements and maintain ecological func-
                tablished in  to protect D. involucrata. To conserve                               tions in protected areas (e.g. Daily & Ellison, ), this is
                D. involucrata on Mount Jinfo the appropriate authorities                              not always feasible because of potential conflicts between
                and local parties involved in bamboo harvesting need to                                conservation and socio-economic development (Coggins,
                focus on methods that are favourable to the life history of                            ; Liu et al., ; Ma et al., ; Wang et al., ).
                this and other tree species, and strategies for their regener-                             Human and natural systems are integrated in the sense
                ation. These methods will also benefit the conservation of                             that people interact with nature (Berkes et al., , ;
                                                                                                       Liu et al., ). Local people play important roles in the
                                                                                                       maintenance of protected areas because of long-standing re-
                                                                                                       lationships with these areas (McNeely, ; Newmark et al.,
                                                                                                       ; Xu et al., ), and effective communication and
                SHENHUA QIAN (Corresponding author) Postdoctoral Station of Ecology
                                                                                                       knowledge exchange between various parties are important
                Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China                                          for management and conservation (Gardner et al., ;
                E-mail qian@fastmail.com                                                               Davis & Ruddle, ; Raymond et al., ). The knowl-
                CINDY Q. TANG Institute of Ecology and Geobotany, Yunnan University,                   edge held by local communities and people involved in
                Kunming, China
                                                                                                       decision making is not usually the explicit and formalized
                SIRONG YI Institute of Medicinal Plant Cultivation of Chongqing, Chongqing,            type of knowledge obtained through scientific methods. In
                China
                                                                                                       China, many protected areas are established and maintained
                LIANG ZHAO and YONGCHUAN YANG* (Corresponding author) Faculty of Urban
                Construction and Environmental Engineering, Chongqing University,
                                                                                                       by a strong top-down, command-and-control authority.
                Chongqing 400045, China. E-mail ycyang@cqu.edu.cn                                      This limits the opportunities for policy makers, scientists
                KUN SONG School of Ecological and Environmental Sciences, East China Normal            and local participants to cooperate, and hinders knowledge
                University, Shanghai, China                                                            translation and information feedback, possibly leading to
                *Also at: Key Laboratory of Three Gorges Reservoir Region’s Eco-Environment,           unintended results (e.g. Guan et al., ; Xu et al., ;
                National Centre for International Research of Low-carbon and Green Buildings,          Zheng & Cao, ).
                and Joint International Research Laboratory of Green Building and Built
                Environment, Ministry of Education, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China                 The subtropical evergreen broad-leaved forests of south-
                Received  January . Revision requested  February .                         central China harbour a rich biological diversity (Myers et al.,
                Accepted  March . First published online  July .                           ; López-Pujol & Ren, ; Vanderplank et al., ).

                                                                                           Oryx, 2018, 52(3), 442–451 © 2017 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S003060531700045X
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https://doi.org/10.1017/S003060531700045X
Conservation and development in conflict: regeneration of wild Davidia involucrata (Nyssaceae) communities weakened by bamboo management in ...
Conservation and development in conflict                      443

              Many tree species in the region, including Davidia involu-
              crata, Tetracentron sinense, Cercidiphyllum japonicum
              and Tapiscia sinensis, were once widespread in the
              northern hemisphere but are now found only in East Asia
              (Manchester et al., ; Tang et al., ). Since  na-
              tional and provincial nature reserves have been established
              in China to prioritize the conservation of these vulnerable
              and threatened taxa (Wang & Xie, ; Miller-Rushing
              et al., ; Zhang et al., ). Despite the large number
              of nature reserves and the significant investment in conser-
              vation, many programmes have failed to meet local eco-
              logical and socio-economic needs (Ma et al., ; Wang
              & Buckley, ; Wang et al., ; Zheng & Cao, ;
              Qian et al., ). The increasing rate of habitat loss caused
                                                                                                     FIG. 1 The natural distribution of Davidia involucrata in China
              by anthropogenic disturbance has led to poor regeneration                              (shaded area), with the locations of the study sites: Mount Emei
              of many threatened plant species (Zhang et al., ), high-                           in Sichuan Province, and Mount Jinfo and Yintiaoling Nature
              lighting a need for more effective in situ conservation prac-                          Reserve in Chongqing Municipality.
              tices. To inform policy makers and improve conservation
              programmes, nature reserves need to be studied and moni-
              tored, with the aim of developing more effective sustainable
              management frameworks, in China and elsewhere.                                         other is in the Yintiaoling Nature Reserve in Chongqing
                  We investigated plant communities dominated by                                     Municipality (Fig. ). The three sites are all located within
              D. involucrata in a forest stand subject to intensive manage-                          the core distribution range of D. involucrata (Fig. ). The
              ment activities in south-central China. Our study site is part                         two control sites are not in Mount Jinfo National Nature
              of a national nature reserve established to protect first-grade                        Reserve because it is difficult to find D. involucrata commu-
              nationally protected trees, including Cathaya argyrophylla                             nities that are undisturbed by human activities within the
              and D. involucrata, and has a history of utilization and man-                          Reserve. We chose the control sites on the basis that they
              agement of the bamboo Chimonobambusa utilis going back                                 are () at similar latitudes to Mount Jinfo National Nature
              to the Song Dynasty (–). Current management prac-                               Reserve (c. °N) and thus their climatic conditions should
              tices for bamboo in this area usually involve clearing away                            not vary substantially from the study site, and () in the core
              the underbrush to promote the growth of bamboo shoots                                  distribution range of D. involucrata and comprise natural
              and facilitate the spread of existing bamboo stands into ad-                           and representative D. involucrata communities, based on
              jacent vegetation. We examined plant community structure                               our field observations.
              and the regeneration of D. involucrata both in this area and                               Davidia involucrata, also known as the dove tree, was
              at two additional sites where D. involucrata communities                               first described by the French priest and naturalist Father
              are relatively well protected, to examine the influences of                            Armand David on a trip to China in , and then found
              bamboo management on the effectiveness of the conserva-                                again by the Scottish plant hunter Augustine Henry in the
              tion of D. involucrata.                                                                Yangtse Ichang gorges. Later, the plant collector Ernest
                                                                                                     Henry Wilson was employed to find Henry’s tree, and he
                                                                                                     collected a large quantity of seeds and sent them back to
              Study area and species                                                                 England in  (Gardener, ). Since  the dove tree
                                                                                                     has been introduced to Europe and North America, and it is
              The study site lies in a forest stand on Mount Jinfo in                                now a popular ornamental tree in parks and gardens. This
              Nanchuan District, Chongqing Municipality (Fig. ). The                                relict species is endemic to south-central and south-western
              area is part of the Mount Jinfo National Nature Reserve,                               China, where it occurs in scattered stands on isolated moun-
              which is a World Heritage site (Ma, ). Within the                                  tain slopes, or in valleys. It was categorized as a first-grade
              study site, D. involucrata and C. utilis have an overlapping                           nationally protected species in the Catalogue of the National
              elevational distribution (Li, ; Li et al., ) and the                           Protected Key Wild Plants of . Of the , known
              intensive management practices used by local people                                    angiosperm species in China (Wang et al., ), only 
              for C. utilis are having an impact on the regeneration of                              have been categorized as first-grade protected species in
              D. involucrata communities. We also selected two addition-                             the Catalogue of the National Protected Key Wild Plants
              al sites, where the plant communities are also dominated by                            of , with  species categorized as second-grade pro-
              D. involucrata but are undisturbed by human activities, as a                           tected species. Although D. involucrata has not yet been as-
              control: one is on Mount Emei in Sichuan Province and the                              sessed for the IUCN Red List, it is reported that the natural

              Oryx, 2018, 52(3), 442–451 © 2017 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S003060531700045X
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Conservation and development in conflict: regeneration of wild Davidia involucrata (Nyssaceae) communities weakened by bamboo management in ...
444         S. Qian et al.

                                                                                                                                   FIG. 2 The elevational distribution and
                                                                                                                                   habitats of the bamboo Chimonobambusa
                                                                                                                                   utilis and the dove tree D. involucrata on
                                                                                                                                   Mount Jinfo (Fig. ). () Habitat of C.
                                                                                                                                   utilis, () harvested shoots of C. utilis, (–
                                                                                                                                   ) D. involucrata at flowering, adult and
                                                                                                                                   fruit stages, respectively, (–)
                                                                                                                                   D. involucrata saplings, () understorey
                                                                                                                                   conditions in D. involucrata populations
                                                                                                                                   in managed forest stand, () damaged
                                                                                                                                   D. involucrata sprouts. Elevational
                                                                                                                                   distribution ranges of C. utilis and
                                                                                                                                   D. involucrata are based on Li et al. ()
                                                                                                                                   and Li (), respectively. The hatched
                                                                                                                                   area indicates the sites where the
                                                                                                                                   distribution of C. utilis and D. involucrata
                                                                                                                                   overlaps. Photographs , ,  and  were
                                                                                                                                   taken at the study area on Mount Jinfo,
                                                                                                                                   and  and  were taken in the Yintiaoling
                                                                                                                                   Nature Reserve (Fig. ).

                TABLE 1 Habitat characteristics and woody floristic composition of the study site on Mount Jinfo, and the two control sites, on Mount Emei
                and in Yintiaoling Nature Reserve, China (Fig. ).

                                                                                                                                                                     Yintiaoling
                                                                                     Mount Jinfo                            Mount Emei                               Nature Reserve
                Stand type                                                           Managed                                Natural                                  Natural
                Altitude (m)                                                         1,807–1,961                            1,620                                    1,347–1,486
                Sampling area (m2)                                                   4,400                                  5,400                                    1,500
                Mean inclination (°)                                                 35                                     30                                       40
                Total no. of plant species                                           30                                     42                                       26
                Relative basal area (%)*
                Davidia involucrata                                                  33.73                                  23.85                                    21.00
                Tetracentron sinense                                                 14.47                                  4.42                                     18.60
                Yulania sprengeri                                                    8.69
                Acer oliverianum                                                     8.66                                   3.01
                Lithocarpus hancei                                                   4.14
                Pterostyrax psilophyllus                                             3.74                                                                            19.45
                Lithocarpus henryi                                                   3.70
                Castanopsis platyacantha                                             3.07                                   0.14
                Cerasus dielsiana                                                    2.43
                Cladrastis delavayi                                                  2.35
                Tapiscia sinensis                                                    2.07                                   2.99                                     0.72
                Acer sterculiaceum subsp. franchetii                                 1.87
                Acer sinense                                                         1.64
                Schima sinensis                                                      1.32
                Illicium simonsii                                                    1.21
                Padus buergeriana                                                    1.21
                Cornus chinensis                                                     0.55                                   1.08
                Styrax hemsleyanus                                                                                          17.44
                Cercidiphyllum japonicum                                                                                    9.54                                     4.87
                Pterocarya hupehensis                                                                                       9.50
                Padus brachypoda                                                                                            8.49
                Padus avium                                                                                                 6.17                                     8.87
                Staphylea holocarpa                                                                                         4.31
                Rhododendron argyrophyllum                                                                                  1.90
                Aesculus chinensis var. wilsonii                                                                            1.18                                     2.27
                Acer flabellatum                                                                                            1.12
                Cornus controversa                                                                                          0.13                                     2.55
                Platycarya strobilacea                                                                                                                               6.19

                                                                                           Oryx, 2018, 52(3), 442–451 © 2017 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S003060531700045X
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https://doi.org/10.1017/S003060531700045X
Conservation and development in conflict                      445

              Table 1 (Cont.)
                                                                                   Mount Jinfo                             Mount Emei                              Yintiaoling
                                                                                                                                                                   Nature Reserve
              Carpinus hupeana                                                                                                                                     3.02
              Diospyros lotus                                                                                                                                      2.87
              Kalopanax septemlobus                                                                                                                                1.99
              Toxicodendron succedaneum                                                                                                                            1.71
              Machilus ichangensis                                                                                                                                 1.56
              Quercus engleriana                                                                                                                                   1.31
              *Only species with relative basal area . % are listed. Values in bold indicate dominant species.

                                                                                                     regeneration of this species is extremely poor (Ma & Li,
                                                                                                     ; Zhang et al., ). In addition, there are no indica-
                                                                                                     tions that the artificial cultivation of D. involucrata for land-
                                                                                                     scaping in cities and botanical gardens has helped this
                                                                                                     species recover in the wild (Volis, ), and species distri-
                                                                                                     bution modelling has shown that only some areas of the cur-
                                                                                                     rent range of D. involucrata would be maintained under
                                                                                                     various climate change scenarios (Tang et al., ).

                                                                                                     Methods

                                                                                                     The characteristics of the plant communities on Mount Jinfo
                                                                                                     and in the Yintiaoling Nature Reserve, including size struc-
                                                                                                     ture and floristic composition, were investigated following
                                                                                                     the patch sampling method (Ohsawa, ). We selected sev-
                                                                                                     eral vegetation patches of – m, to include representa-
                                                                                                     tive types of vegetation in the study sites. Within each
                                                                                                     vegetation patch the species were identified and the height
                                                                                                     and diameter at breast height (DBH) of every individual
                                                                                                     (woody species $ . m tall) were recorded. On Mount
                                                                                                     Jinfo we often found evidence of newly emerging sprouts
                                                                                                     (usually , . m) of D. involucrata having been cut and re-
                                                                                                     moved (Fig. ); we marked the damaged trees and counted
                                                                                                     the number of sprouts cut vs those remaining per individual
                                                                                                     to quantify the level of damage. On Mount Emei, plant com-
                                                                                                     munities were investigated in a permanent plot of , m ,
                                                                                                     as described in Tang & Ohsawa (). Investigations of the
                                                                                                     D. involucrata communities on Mount Jinfo and in
                                                                                                     Yintiaoling Nature Reserve were conducted in late summer
                                                                                                     in , and data on D. involucrata communities on Mount
                                                                                                     Emei came from a permanent forest inventory reported in
                                                                                                     Tang & Ohsawa (). We included data on D. involucrata
                                                                                                     on Mount Emei because, to our knowledge, this site is one of
                                                                                                     the few sites where the species is well protected and natural
                                                                                                     regeneration from seeds has been observed.
                                                                                                         The dominant species in each plant community were de-
                                                                                                     termined based on the relative basal area of each species
              FIG. 3 Frequency distributions of the diameter at breast height                        (Ohsawa, ). We used the age–diameter relationship re-
              (DBH) class for all D. involucrata individuals of $ . m height                       ported in Tang & Ohsawa () to estimate the ages of
              at the three study sites (Fig. ).                                                     main stems or sprouts of D. involucrata when necessary.

              Oryx, 2018, 52(3), 442–451 © 2017 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S003060531700045X
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https://doi.org/10.1017/S003060531700045X
446         S. Qian et al.

                                                                                                                                    FIG. 4 (a) The numbers of
                                                                                                                                    single-stemmed and multi-stemmed D.
                                                                                                                                    involucrata individuals at each study site
                                                                                                                                    (Fig. ), and (b) the mean numbers of
                                                                                                                                    cut and surviving sprouts (newly
                                                                                                                                    emerging sprouts at , . m height) of
                                                                                                                                    D. involucrata adults on Mount Jinfo.
                                                                                                                                    Whiskers indicate variability outside the
                                                                                                                                    upper and lower quartiles, and dots
                                                                                                                                    represent data outliers.

                                                                                                       The mean number of stems of cut and surviving sprouts per
                                                                                                       adult individual of D. involucrata was compared using a
                                                                                                       paired t-test.

                                                                                                       Results

                                                                                                       The characteristics of the forest stands and plant communi-
                                                                                                       ties in the three sites are summarized in Table . The plant
                                                                                                       communities were all co-dominated by D. involucrata and
                                                                                                       T. sinense. In addition, they share a number of relict compo-
                                                                                                       nents; for example, Pterostyrax psilophyllus, the co-
                                                                                                       dominant relict deciduous species in the Yintiaoling
                                                                                                       Nature Reserve, was also present in plant communities on
                                                                                                       Mount Jinfo. Tapiscia sinensis, although not a dominant
                                                                                                       species, was recorded in all plant communities in the three
                                                                                                       sites. At the two control sites, on Mount Emei and in the
                                                                                                       Yintiaoling Nature Reserve, the plant communities con-
                                                                                                       sisted of some additional relict trees, including C. japonicum
                                                                                                       and Aesculus chinensis var. wilsonii (Table ).
                                                                                                           On Mount Jinfo the main stems of D. involucrata were
                                                                                                       mostly of DBH – cm (Fig. a). On Mount Emei and
                                                                                                       in the Yintiaoling Nature Reserve, however, the DBH of
                                                                                                       D. involucrata has a continuous, inverse J-shaped distribution
                                                                                                       (Fig. b,c). Small stems of D. involucrata (DBH – cm;
                                                                                                       height $ . m) were absent from Mount Jinfo. Based on
                                                                                                       the generalized age–diameter relationship (Tang &
                                                                                                       Ohsawa, ), the missing smaller stems would have
                                                                                                       been c. – years old.
                                                                                                           On Mount Jinfo the number of single-stemmed D. involu-
                                                                                                       crata individuals was approximately equal to the number of
                                                                                                       multi-stemmed individuals. In contrast, on Mount Emei and
                                                                                                       in the Yintiaoling Nature Reserve the number of
                                                                                                       multi-stemmed individuals was higher than that of
                                                                                                       single-stemmed individuals (Fig. a). For newly emerging
                                                                                                       D. involucrata sprouts on Mount Jinfo, the number of sprouts
                                                                                                       cut per individual was significantly higher than the number of
                FIG. 5 Frequency distribution by height-class of D. involucrata                        remaining sprouts (t = −., P , .; Fig. b).
                communities at the three study sites (Fig. ). In (a) the                                  The height-class distribution of the D. involucrata on
                co-occurring species do not include C. utilis.                                         Mount Jinfo had a unimodal pattern, with most

                                                                                           Oryx, 2018, 52(3), 442–451 © 2017 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S003060531700045X
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 46.4.80.155, on 07 Nov 2021 at 06:32:05, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S003060531700045X
Conservation and development in conflict                      447

              FIG. 6 The current management strategies for bamboo stands and D. involucrata communities on Mount Jinfo (Fig. ). () Relatively
              balanced coexistence between bamboo and the D. involucrata communities prior to the change in government policy. (–) The use of
              certain measures to accelerate the death of trees other than D. involucrata, which are then used as firewood to boil and pre-process
              bamboo shoots in situ before they are dried out: () trunks of dead trees, () firewood made from dead trees, () a brick stove to boil
              and process the harvested bamboo shoots, () close-up of the brick stove, () processed and then dried bamboo shoots to be sold to
              the market. (–) To promote the growth and production of bamboo shoots and facilitate the spread of existing bamboo stands,
              understorey shrubs including young D. involucrata sprouts are intentionally cut and removed. () Current unbalanced coexistence
              between bamboo and the D. involucrata communities. The line at the top is a timeline of major events: c.  years ago a major,
              government-owned forest management centre was established on Mount Jinfo to promote the development and utilization of bamboo.
              Since then, bamboo management policy has changed significantly and the market for bamboo shoots has developed rapidly. In 
              the Mount Jinfo Provincial Nature Reserve was established to protect species, including D. involucrata, in this area, and in  this
              nature reserve was designated the Mount Jinfo National Nature Reserve.

              individuals in the – m height-class (Fig. a). On                                  considerations be reviewed in planning management strategies
              Mount Emei and in the Yintiaoling Nature Reserve the                                   (Xu et al., ; Ma et al., ; Wu, ). The missing
              height-class distributions were continuous, with the most                              D. involucrata main stems of – cm diameter at breast height,
              abundant individuals (of both D. involucrata and co-                                   aged – years, on Mount Jinfo suggest that the exclusion of
              occurring species) in the shrub and sub-canopy layer                                   D. involucrata seedlings and new recruits in this area may have
              (.– m height-class; Fig. b,c).                                                     begun – decades ago. The size structure of D. involucrata
                                                                                                     mirrors the transformation of local economic development
                                                                                                     modes, together with a shift in the government’s policy from
              Discussion                                                                             individual-based management of bamboo stands to a
                                                                                                     contractor-based management plan (Fig. ; pers. comm. with
              Conflict between conservation and socio-economic                                       local workers and residents, August ). Official records show
              development                                                                            that in June  a major, government-owned forest manage-
                                                                                                     ment centre was established on Mount Jinfo to promote the de-
              When establishing protected areas in China, recommendations                            velopment and utilization of bamboo. Since then, the bamboo
              were put forward that both ecological and socio-economic                               industry in the region has seen rapid development, resulting in

              Oryx, 2018, 52(3), 442–451 © 2017 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S003060531700045X
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https://doi.org/10.1017/S003060531700045X
448         S. Qian et al.

                                                                                                                                   FIG. 7 (a) Regeneration strategies for
                                                                                                                                   relict trees and coexisting evergreen
                                                                                                                                   species in a typical relict plant
                                                                                                                                   community (revised from Tang &
                                                                                                                                   Ohsawa, ). (b) Changes in the effect
                                                                                                                                   of bamboo management intensity on D.
                                                                                                                                   involucrata regeneration; the dotted circle
                                                                                                                                   shows the possible effects of management
                                                                                                                                   activity on the regeneration of D.
                                                                                                                                   involucrata at a medium level of
                                                                                                                                   management intensity, and the dashed
                                                                                                                                   arrow indicates the direction towards
                                                                                                                                   which the effects will change as the
                                                                                                                                   management intensity increases. The
                                                                                                                                   peak of the curve represents the optimum
                                                                                                                                   management intensity for the
                                                                                                                                   regeneration of D. involucrata. As
                                                                                                                                   management intensity increases beyond
                                                                                                                                   the point of intersection between the
                                                                                                                                   dashed line and the curve, the net effects
                                                                                                                                   of human activity on the regeneration of
                                                                                                                                   D. involucrata shift from positive to
                                                                                                                                   negative.

                increased intensity of bamboo management. In  bamboo                               policy for conserving D. involucrata requires only that large
                products (including bamboo timber and shoots) accounted                                trees be kept alive. Consequently, contractors and local work-
                for an annual revenue of c. USD ,. This increased to                              ers focus on promoting the growth of bamboo shoots, the
                c. USD , in , and USD , in  (The                                   spread of existing bamboo stands, and lowering the cost of
                Nanchuan Local Chronicle Editorial Committee, ). The                               bamboo shoot processing. Small seedlings of D. involucrata
                harvesting and processing of bamboo shoots on Mount Jinfo                              are removed and the young sprouts are intentionally cut
                has been scaled up to become a major business (the annual                              (Figs  & ). The management of other tree species includes
                value of production in  was c. USD  million), in parallel                        ring-barking to accelerate their death. The dead trees are then
                with the implementation of conservation action for D. involu-                          used as firewood for boiling and pre-processing bamboo
                crata (Nanchuan District People’s Government, ).                                   shoots in situ before they are dried (Fig. ). Such measures
                However, the need to develop a local bamboo shoot market                               are informal, and contribute significantly to the absence of
                and the existing intensified in situ management practices re-                          small trees (D. involucrata and co-occurring species) in
                ceived little consideration during the establishment of the                            plant communities on Mount Jinfo (Figs  & ).
                Mount Jinfo Provincial Nature Reserve in  and the                                      To integrate professional, ecological knowledge with cur-
                Mount Jinfo National Nature Reserve in , possibly because                          rent management strategies for the forests on Mount Jinfo,
                a one-size-fits-all strategy was being used for establishing and                       relevant parties must understand the life-history character-
                maintaining national reserves in China (Xu et al., , ).                        istics of the key plant species. The plant communities on
                Bamboo shoot harvesting and processing have become major                               Mount Jinfo comprise several dominant relict tree species,
                sources of income for many local residents, and the local gov-                         including D. involucrata and T. sinense (Table ), and sprout-
                ernment and sponsors in Nanchuan District wish to continue                             ing is a critical part of their life histories (Tang & Ohsawa,
                to develop, and invest in, the bamboo shoot market (Nanchuan                           ; Tang et al., ). In the absence of seedlings, sprouts
                District People’s Government, ). Consequently, the on-                             are crucial for sustaining the recruitment and regeneration of
                going development of the bamboo shoot industry conflicts                               the species in this forest. The gap in the – cm DBH class
                with the goal of conserving threatened species, such as D. invo-                       for D. involucrata on Mount Jinfo (Fig. a) confirms the sig-
                lucrata, in Mount Jinfo National Nature Reserve.                                       nificant lack of recruits from seedlings, and emphasizes the
                                                                                                       importance of sprouting for maintaining D. involucrata. As
                                                                                                       most of the newly emerging sprouts of D. involucrata are
                The importance of sharing knowledge                                                    intentionally cut, this forest may be facing a future ecological
                                                                                                       crisis of structure and function.
                To manage forests in protected areas, various forms of knowl-                              In the unmanaged forest stands on Mount Emei the abil-
                edge must be integrated (Quesada et al., ; Raymond et al.,                         ity of relict deciduous trees such as D. involucrata to sprout
                ). In Mount Jinfo National Nature Reserve the current                              and thus adapt to unstable habitats (e.g. scree slopes)

                                                                                           Oryx, 2018, 52(3), 442–451 © 2017 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S003060531700045X
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https://doi.org/10.1017/S003060531700045X
Conservation and development in conflict                          449

              enables them to avoid competition with coexisting ever-                                reviewers for their constructive comments which contributed
              green trees, which generally establish themselves in stable                            significantly to improving the quality of the manuscript. This
              environments such as on mountain ridges (Fig. a; Tang                                 study was supported by grants from the Key National Research
              & Ohsawa, ). Management activities such as selectively                             and Development Plan Program (YFC) to YY,
              cutting neighbouring trees, when carried out at low inten-                             the Special Funding for Postdoctoral Researcher of
              sity, can improve understorey light conditions and thus pro-                           Chongqing (Xm) and the China Postdoctoral
              mote the regeneration of remaining D. involucrata                                      Science Foundation (M) to SQ, the Fundamental
              individuals in the plant community. This may explain                                   Research Funds for the Central Universities (Project No.
              how, despite the long history of utilizing and managing                                CDJXY) to LZ, and the National Natural
              bamboo on Mount Jinfo, D. involucrata persists. However,                               Science Foundation of China () to KS.
              there is a threshold of intensity of bamboo management
              above which increasing management will have negative ef-                               Author contributions
              fects on the regeneration of D. involucrata because of an in-
              crease in interspecific competition (e.g. competition                                  YY and SQ designed the study. SQ analysed the data and wrote
              between D. involucrata and bamboo for light and below-                                 an initial draft of the article. YY, CQT, SQ, LZ and SY con-
              ground resources; Takahashi et al., ; Kisanuki et al.,                             ducted the field work and collected the data. All authors con-
              ) (Fig. b). Hence, in the long term, control of manage-                           tributed substantially to the development of the article.
              ment intensity would benefit those involved in bamboo har-
              vesting whilst minimizing the negative effects of these                                References
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                                                                                                             Oryx, 2018, 52(3), 442–451 © 2017 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S003060531700045X
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https://doi.org/10.1017/S003060531700045X
Conservation and development in conflict                      451

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              Z H A N G , L., L U O , Z., M A L LO N , D., L I , C. & J I A N G , Z. ()          S H E N H U A Q I A N ’s research focuses on population dynamics and the
                 Biodiversity conservation status in China’s growing protected areas.                conservation of biodiversity. C I N D Y Q . T A N G ’S research interests in-
                 Biological Conservation, http://dx.doi.org/./j.biocon...                clude the conservation of relict species and the origins and development
                 .                                                                                of subtropical forests. S I R O N G Y I ’s research interests include forest con-
              Z H A N G , W., C AO , G.-X., L I U , G.-H. & L I U , X. () Population             servation and management. L I A N G Z H A O is interested in the relation-
                 structure and distribution pattern of Davidia involucrata at Labahe                 ship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning. K U N G S O N G ’s
                 Nature Reserve of Sichuan Province. Journal of Zhejiang Forestry                    research focuses on the processes and mechanisms structuring the plant
                 College, , –. [In Chinese, with English abstract]                           communities in subtropical forests. Y O N G C H U A N Y A N G ’s research in-
              Z H E N G , H. & C AO , S. () Threats to China’s biodiversity by                   terests incorporate many aspects of the conservation of relict species. He
                 contradictions policy. Ambio, , –.                                            also has a special interest in biodiversity patterns in urban ecosystems.

              Oryx, 2018, 52(3), 442–451 © 2017 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S003060531700045X
Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 46.4.80.155, on 07 Nov 2021 at 06:32:05, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms.
https://doi.org/10.1017/S003060531700045X
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