Dispersal, migration and management - Ecological Applications: Toward a Sustainable World - page 85

Fig. 4.1 (a) Locations of
radio-tagged bellbirds
during the breeding
season (circles)
(March-June),
primarily on the
Atlantic slope of the
Tilaran mountain range
in north-central Costa
Rica (white area), and
post-breeding season
(t r i a ngle s) ( July-
September), primarily
on the Pacifi c slope of
the mountain range
(shaded area). The
square in (b) outlines
the whole of the area
shown in (a). (b)
Locations of radio-
tagged bellbirds during
September-November
(circle s) and December-
March (triangles). The
arrows in (a) and (b)
show the four annual
migration steps. (After
Powell & Bjork, 2004.)

(a)

1

Monteverde Reserve

5 km

(b)

NICARAGUA

Atlantic
Ocean

2

3

4

C O S T A R I C A

3

4

N

Pacific
Ocean

100 km

any single nature reserve. Powell and Bjork conclude that protected areas should
not be considered in isolation but as pieces of an integrated system.

4.2.2 The ups and
downs of panda
conservation

The Qinling Province in China is home to approximately 220 giant pandas, repre-
senting about 20% of the wild population of one of the world's most imperilled
mammals. The pandas in this region are elevational migrants - in other words, the
population needs both low and high elevation habitats to persist. This is something
that existing nature reserves did not cater for.
Pandas are extreme dietary specialists, primarily consuming a few species of
bamboo. From June to September the pandas eat Fargesia spathacea , which grows
from 1900 to 3000 m. But as colder weather sets in, they travel to lower elevations
and between October and May feed primarily on Bashania fargesii , a bamboo species
that grows from 1000 to 2100 m. Loucks et al. (2003) used a combin at ion of satellite