The Outstanding Universal Value and Conservation of Hubei Shennongjia: The World Natural Heritage Site

This book owes a great deal to the outstanding universal value of the natural heritage of Hubei Shennongjia, which offers an outstanding example of the ongoing ecological processes occurring in the development of intact subtropical mixed broad-leaved evergreen and deciduous forests in the northern hemisphere. The book demonstrates the value from the typical example of mountain altitudinal biological zones in the Oriental Deciduous Forest Biogeographical Province, and the vital origin location for global temperate flora, harboring the highest concentration of global temperate genera. Moreover, the heritage value in exceptional biodiversity and key habitat for numerous relic, rare, endangered, endemic, and type specimen species are presented. The richness of deciduous woody species in Shennongjia is the highest in the world.

Dr. Zongqiang Xie is a professor of plant ecology and conservation sciences at State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change (LVEC), Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is the head of the National Field Station for Forest Ecosystem in Shennongjia and the Shennongjia Biodiversity Research Station of CAS. Dr. Xie obtained his Ph.D. in ecology from the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 1996. His research focuses on monitoring, modeling, and managing forest ecosystems across scales, especially in the context of global environmental changes. His research employs a combined toolset to characterize the status and change in species, population, community and ecosystems, and examine ecological responses of terrestrial ecosystems to disturbances and climate change. Dr. Xie has published more than 120 papers in peer-reviewed journals including Science, PNAS, Global Change Biology, and Conservation Biology.

Dr. Guozhen Shen is an associate professor of conservation biology sciences at State Key Laboratory of Vegetation and Environmental Change (LVEC), Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He received his Ph.D. in ecology from the Beijing Forestry University in 2002. He is specialized in the performance of protected areas in mitigating biodiversity and carbon loss, especially a detailed understanding of the species extinction, their driving forces such as landuse and climate change. His research employs spatial analysis tools to characterize the status and change of species distribution (such as giant panda and Metasequoia glyptostroboides), carbon sequestration and habitation fragmentation, and the consequences of the habitat fragmentation. Dr. Shen has published more than 60 papers in peer-reviewed journals including Conservation Biology and Biological Conservation.