Landscape Ecological Integrity Assessment to Improve Protected Area Management of Forest Ecosystem

Understanding the ecological integrity of a protected area is a central topic for the management and conservation of these key areas. An ecological integrity framework based on a series of landscape ecology indices was developed to monitor and evaluate the status and conditions of ecological integrity among different functional zones in the Xiangjiangyuan Provincial Nature Reserve. The results showed that this nature reserve has high ecological quality and low anthropogenic influence, with the ecosystem generally well-maintained. The important landscape types of this nature reserve include evergreen broad-leaved forests, mixed evergreen deciduous broad-leaved forests, deciduous broad-leaved forests, etc., which have high authenticity and high conservation values. As the results for the degree of landscape fragmentation and human interference in the three functional zones showed the core zone < the buffer zone < the experimental zone, which was good to fit the conservation and management requirements of the nature reserve. The landscape fragmentation analysis for the important landscape types in all functional zones showed that the experimental zone and the buffer zone were relatively more severe than the core zone; the core area was lighter with minimal anthropogenic impacts and the most complete protection of the nature reserve. Regarding the sustainability and management goals, we suggest some effective policies to continuously improve the ecosystem integrity.