Village sacred forests as refugia and source populations for reforestation efforts in SW China

Background/Question/Methods

In addition to its renown for high levels of biodiversity and endemism, the region of NW Yunnan China is likewise a focal area for China’s national reforestation strategies. The Natural Forest Protection Program (NFPP) is prominent among these restoration efforts as one of the world’s largest reforestation and aforestation campaigns. As part of a larger project to investigate the role of reforestation programs in facilitating the re-emergence of structurally complex and species-rich forest communities on a degraded landscape in montane SW China, this study looks at the role of Tibetan village sacred forests in harboring refugial plant populations and serving as source populations for the reintroduction of rare species via natural regeneration. To properly test for significant results that could be easily replicated, three Tibetan village sacred forests abutting NFPP forests were chosen under a random stratified sampling design. Vegetation data was collected in a series of sample plots on a land use gradient from sacred forest interior to surrounding areas undergoing active and passive reforestation under the NFPP. The discrete boundaries between the sacred forests and NFPP land allowed for logistically feasible and ecologically meaningful comparisons.

Results/Conclusions

This research focuses on one aspect of NFPP large-scale ecological restoration project: the phenomenon whereby woody plant taxa in isolated patches of old-growth forests (characteristic of native pre-deforestation forest ecosystems) disperse into proximate, newly reforested lands. Results indicate evidence of statistically significant: (1) increased structural complexity and stand age in village sacred forests; (2) increased woody plant diversity in these sacred forests; and confirmation of the hypothesized (3) dispersal of refugial plant taxa from sacred forest source populations into restored NFPP land. The results of this study have significant implications for the design of effective conservation strategies in SW China that incorporate local cultural practice (community designation and policing of village sacred forests) with regional reforestation and biological conservation programs.