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Changes of foraging patch selection and utilization by a giant panda after bamboo flowering

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Abstract

The bamboo flowering leads to the habitat fragmentation and food quality decline of a giant panda. Few empirical research has been conducted about the giant panda’s response to the bamboo flowering. Here, we investigated the characteristics of bamboo stands, giant panda’s activity, and selection and utilization of bamboo stands by giant panda in Taibaishan National Nature Reserve, China, over a 3-year period (September 2013–May 2016) during the Fargesia qinlingensis flowering period. Our results indicated that the proportion of whole bamboo stands flowering has gradually expanded from 26.7% in 2013 and 33.9% in 2014 to 52.3% in 2015. Although the flowering bamboo has lower crude protein and higher crude fiber than a non-flowering bamboo, the giant panda still fed on flowering bamboo from the evidence of droppings. The giant panda left its feeding sites and moved to the high elevation along river when the proportion of flowering reached 69.2% at elevation of 2350–2450 m in the third year. With the decline of the quality of bamboo stand of Fargesia qinlingensis, the giant panda abandoned its feeding sites when the threshold value of bamboo flowering reached 56.9–69.2%. Flexibility in foraging strategy and spatial behavior can help the giant panda to better adapt to the environment.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the administration at Taibaishan Nature Reserve and the Huo Ditang National Ecological Observatory in Qinling, China for their support, especially for Wu Xuntao, Li Xianmin, and Sun Bin who assisted in the field. This work was funded by the State Forestry Administration’s International Cooperation Project for the giant panda (No. AD1411). Thanks are also given to the anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Life Science, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China

    Guochun Li, Huadong Song & Shuhai Bu

  2. College of Forestry, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China

    Latifa A. A. Altigani & Xueli Zheng

  3. College of Forestry, Zalingei University, Zalingei, Cental Darfur Sate, P.O.Box:6, Sudan

    Latifa A. A. Altigani

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  1. Guochun Li
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  2. Huadong Song
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  3. Latifa A. A. Altigani
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Correspondence to Shuhai Bu.

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Li, G., Song, H., Altigani, L.A.A. et al. Changes of foraging patch selection and utilization by a giant panda after bamboo flowering. Environ Sci Pollut Res 24, 16418–16428 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9164-5

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