Spatial Distribution Expending of National Protected Birds after 10 Years Environmental Recovery in Beijing
Environmental protection programs exert strong effects on vegetation and plant conservation; however, few researchers have dealt with the impacts of environmental protection programs on wildlife recovery. We compared the spatial changes in avian species distributions caused by these environmental restoration programs for 63 national key protected bird species by overlaying GIS layers to examine the effects of environmental protection on bird diversity since 2000 in Beijing, China. Generally, these species congregated in areas away from human disturbance and around wetlands, city parks, and woodlands. Class One protected birds appeared to be expanding their ranges although they were sparsely distributed. Two Class One species appeared new to the area after 2000. Several Class Two protected species were also enlarging their ranges and one Class Two species appeared new to the area. The results reveal that the ranges of bird species as well as species diversity of the national key protected birds are increasing as wetlands recover and vegetation conditions improve in the vicinity of Beijing.