Limin Feng

New challenges facing traditional nature reserves: Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) conservation in China

Traditional conservation strategies can effectively preserve biodiversity within nature reserves, but may fail to mitigate the conflicts between rural development and wildlife conservation. This paper discusses the magnitude of the conflict and its development over time, focusing on elephant conservation and land resource management within and around nature reserves. We suggest that regulations alone can satisfy neither the demands to maintain biodiversity and ecosystem services nor the demands to achieve human welfare. More innovative tools such as informed land-use planning and integrated conservation development projects are called for to reduce the agricultural interface with elephant range, and therefore to alleviate the damage caused by the conflict.

Estimating abundance and density of Amur tigers along the Sino–Russian border

As an apex predator the Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) could play a pivotal role in maintaining the integrity of forest ecosystems in Northeast Asia. Due to habitat loss and harvest over the past century, tigers rapidly declined in China and are now restricted to the Russian Far East and bordering habitat in nearby China. To facilitate restoration of the tiger in its historical range, reliable estimates of population size are essential to assess effectiveness of conservation interventions. Here we used camera trap data collected in Hunchun National Nature Reserve from April to June 2013 and 2014 to estimate tiger density and abundance using both maximum likelihood and Bayesian spatially explicit capture-recapture (SECR) methods. A minimum of 8 individuals were detected in both sample periods and the documentation of marking behavior and reproduction suggests the presence of a resident population. Using Bayesian SECR modeling within the 11 400 km(2) state space, density estimates were 0.33 and 0.40 individuals/100 km(2) in 2013 and 2014, respectively, corresponding to an estimated abundance of 38 and 45 animals for this transboundary Sino-Russian population. In a maximum likelihood framework, we estimated densities of 0.30 and 0.24 individuals/100 km(2) corresponding to abundances of 34 and 27, in 2013 and 2014, respectively. These density estimates are comparable to other published estimates for resident Amur tiger populations in the Russian Far East. This study reveals promising signs of tiger recovery in Northeast China, and demonstrates the importance of connectivity between the Russian and Chinese populations for recovering tigers in Northeast China.

The complete mitochondrial genome of the North Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis)

Abstract The North Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus japonensis) is an endemic subspecies of Panthera pardus to China, living in small and isolated populations with a severely fragmented distribution. Here we first sequenced and annotated its complete mitochondrial genome. The total length of the North Chinese Leopard is of 16,966 base pairs that consist of 2 rRNA gene, 22 tRNA genes, 13 protein-coding genes, 1 OLR and 1 control region (CR). The structures of the genomes were highly similar to other Felidae.

The complete mitochondrial genome of Capricornis sp., possible a new species of Serow from Guizhou, China

Abstract The genus Capricornis was widely distributed in Asia. In the present study, the complete mitochondrial genome of Capricornis sp., possible a new species of Serow from Guizhou province of China, was sequenced for the first time. Sequence analysis showed it is 16,441 bp in length, consisting of 12S rRNA gene, 16S rRNA gene, 22 transfer RNA (tRNA) genes, 13 protein-coding genes and one control region (CR).