2006 Middle Report of COSMO Sponsored Qinling Forest Restoration Project

( College of Life Sciences , Northwest University )

Commercial logging and forest destruction in the last century has reduced the natural habitat of monkeys. In particular, the building of logging driveways in the Qinling Mountains isolated a considerable number of Golden Monkey groups from each other. This leads to inbreeding among monkeys within the isolated small populations, and may eventually cause the whole population to degenerate and even become extinct. Hence, it is important to connect all the small fragments into one habitat for wild animals. Most of the logging driveways have now been abandoned, but they still restrict the movements of wild animals. We intend to restore the driveways – the prime criminals that cut the native forest into many pieces – to improve the communication between animal groups and enhance the genetic diversity of the animal population. Since the project was conducted in April, positive results have already emerged.

•  Tree planting

•  Site : in the past half-year, we planted trees in Qianyuhe valley, which are located in the eastern ridge in Yuhuangmiao region of the Qinling Mountains ' northern slope. This zone was the logging area of Luguantai forest farm in last century. Nowadays, there are still 30km abandoned driveway in the valley. This driveway impacted free-activity of eastern ridge group (more than 120 individuals) of golden snub-nosed monkeys in the region. (see figure 1)

Area : Trees are planted along and beyond the abandon ed driveway. The area in which new trees have been planted is 12km × 0.01km , which is a total of 0.12km 2 . This segment is part of a total of 194km of abandoned driveways in the Qingling Mountains (8.05 percent).

b. Category of trees and survival rate : We only chose saplings taller than 2m , which are more likely to survive. This year we bought some Fraxinus mandshurica from tree garden of Ningxi forest bureau in mountain and plant them on the driveway, and found these plants had high success rates. Nearly 75% of them are have survived. Comparing with last year, it is likely that this species could adapt to the cold environment. We also picked most species of sapling from high-elevation mountain sites, including Populus prudomii , Salix sinica sinca , Betula alba-sinensis , Quercus liaolungensis and Pterocarga macroptera . The survival rate of all the trees planted was 75%. Because of hard terra the survival rate is lower in this year than at last year. In the future we will gradually replant the areas in which trees did not survive.

c. Amount : As the following figure shows, we planted a total of 9, 000 trees ( 12km ). We used method as following: planting trees 4 rows in 100m in interval 300m .

d. Tree planting activity :

(i) During the April to August of this year ， 280 campus students from the Biology Department of Northwest University joined this project as volunteers totally. They came to the Qinling Mountains to assist with this project in the weekends and summer vocation.

(ii) From the 29 th of March to the 15 th of May we employed 45 local villagers and 5 farmers to transport and plant the saplings respectively. We also employed two local villagers to stay at the field site in the long term to protect the young trees.

•  Reviving the fragmented forest eco-system

a. Project outputs : The trees had a high survival rate (over 75%). The tree growth has led smaller vegetation to flourish amongst the trees, providing a niche for small mammals such as squirrels, hedgehogs, field mice and so on. Furthermore, the new niche provides a corridor to connect the fragmented habitat of some larger mammals, to overcome their current isolation. Nowadays, wild pigs and gorals can cross the driveway in places they were previously afraid to cross. From droppings and tracks we already have proof that small and large animals are using this driveway area.

b. Lessons learned:

The species we picked from the high elevations were able to adapt to the cold climate in the mountains; they showed much high survivorship. For example, 75% of Fraxinus mandshurica survived, whereas more than 75% of species from the higher-elevation mountain sites have survived. Based on the experience, we should choose species of trees from higher-elevation mountain sites in the future.

•  Project impact

•  This project has been widely recognized in China because of median coverage. National and local newspapers, TV stations and major websites reported the progress of the projects on regular basis. Popular media include Shaanxi Television, Xinhua News, Huashang Newspaper, etc. Through these reports, the media successfully conveyed the ecosystem conservation awareness to the public.

•  Prof. Li Baoguo and Dr. Guo Songtao made several lectures to students from universities. The lecture's title is “COSMO Environment Conservation Reason”. Through the lectures students can understand why COSMO oil industries contribute to nature conservation and joint with us to protect wildlife. After the lecture, students realized that everyone could contribute to nature conservation so many of them joined the project as volunteers. We organized them to the project site to plant trees. They commented that the activity “had enhanced their ideas on protecting the forests and ecosystems.”

•  The project has achieved preliminary benefits to the local community who had lived on logging. The practice and education they received in this project helped them to begin to understand the importance of the trees for the natural ecosystems. Villagers not only joined our tree-planting program but also volunteered to protect the forest.

4 ． Research work supported by COSMO Fund

Supported by COSMO Fund, scientific research on the behavioral ecology and social biology of the Golden Monkey has been conducted consistently. One student has completed her master theses:

Yu Xiaoyu : Mother-infant relationships, male care and infant development of wild Sichuan snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus roxellana) in Qinling Mountains . Northwest University . 2006.

Four research articles have also been published in famous scientific journals. An announcement was added to each article to declare that the research was contributed by COSMO Oil Card Foundation.

•  QI Xiaoguang, LI Baoguo, Li Yinhua. Maternal investment and birth sex ratio bias of the golden snub-nosed monkey Rhinopithecus roxellana in Qinling mountain of China . Acta Zoologica Sinica, 2006, 52:1-10.

•  Lv Jiuquan, Li Baoguo. Diurnal activity budget of the Sichuan snub-nosed monkey ( Rhinopithecus roxellana ) in the Qinling Mountains of China . Acta Theriologica Sinica, 2006, 26:26-32.

•  LI Baoguo, LI Hongqun, ZHAO Dapeng, ZHANG Yuhui, QI Xiaoguang. Study on dominance hierarchy of the Sichuan snub-nosed monkey ( Rhinopithecus roxellana ) in Qinling Mountains . Acta Theriologica Sinica, 2006, 26:18-25.

•  Zhang Peng, Li Baoguo, Watanabe Kunio. Use of forest strata by Sichuan snub-nosed monkeys Rhinopithecus roxellana in spring and winter in Qinling Mountains , China . Acta Zoologica Sinica, 2006, 52:429-436.

•  Website Made

Now, we are tailoring a website, which title is “Qinling forest restoration project” sponsored by COSMO Oil Eco Card Foundation.