Major Threats to Giant Pandas and Conservation Practices

AbstractRapid human population growth and increasing human activities have severely affected the survival of giant pandas. On the one hand, large-scale deforestation, road construction, and economic development along these roads have greatly altered panda habitat, causing serious habitat loss and fragmentation and hindering free dispersal and gene flow. On the other hand, poaching, hunting, and zoo collection of wild pandas have directly caused the population decline. In addition, the periodic natural phenomenon of bamboo flowering and die-off (with a 40-to-100-year cycle) has further aggravated the adverse situation. However, the ecological and genetic mechanisms for these negative factors influencing giant pandas are still unclear.