Results/Conclusions

    Large rare mammals have always been one of the most important conservation objectives in Chinese protection system. To this end, a large number of protective areas for mammals have built up in china. However, debates between development and protection exist in many regions. For coordination of these debates, the paper adopts systematic conservation planning approach to select the priority protective area of Yangtze River basin for mammals. The study contains 139 kinds of mammals, which are divided into six categories according to the endangered and endemic characters of these species, and the conservation targets have been set respectively. Meanwhile, the cost of conservation planning was simulated using per capita GDP of country level, and using MARXAN software to perform iterative calculation. The research found seven priority conservation areas for mammals, including 92 counties, and suggested that protection networks should be established in each priority area with Breeding Center in suitable sites.