Environmental influences on bamboo Bashania fangiana growth and implications for giant panada conservation

Associations between Bashania fangiana stand characteristics preferred by foraging Ailuropoda melanoleuca and a suite of environmental factors potentially influencing bamboo growth were investigated in Wolong Natural Reserve, Sichuan, China. B. fangiana culms were taller and thicker in the middle of the species' altitudinal range, suggesting stress at the extremes of the range. Culms were taller and thicker under mixed evergreen and deciduous canopy than under homogeneous evergreen, deciduous or clearcut canopies, suggesting poorer growth with very low or very high insolation. Culm density decreased as average annual forest canopy cover increased, and was highest in clearcuts. Clearcutting reduces panda habitat quality by favouring development of dense, short bamboo stands. Pandas prefer tall culms with wide basal diameter most of the year. Mixed evergreen and deciduous forests support the bamboo growth most preferred by pandas; these canopies can result from selective logging of conifers. -from Authors