Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 5.4.
Sensitivity analysis of Panda population growth to changes in the survivor-
ship of cubs or of prereproductive subadult females that stand to make a high future
reproductive contribution to the population. Baseline data (open circles) indicate that
the population can be sustained over the long term. Small decreases in survival (10 to 12
percent) should however cause the population to decline over time (solid circles). The
analysis also reveals that protecting subadults will result in greater population abundances
than protecting cubs.This suggests that conservation efforts should be targeted at main-
taining high survivorship of older-age individuals. Graphs based on data from Zhou and
Pan (1997).
