Stepping Stone Strategy: A Cost-Effective Way to Address Habitat Fragmentation of Endangered Wildlife in Montane Forest

Habitat fragmentation affects the survival of wildlife and is a main threat to biodiversity. Corridors are frequently used to alleviate habitat fragmentation. However, corridors are costly and often ineffective in practice. Endangered species in montane regions are particularly affected by habitat fragmentation and therefore require economic and efficient conservation strategies. We propose a stepping stone strategy (SSS) to deal with habitat fragmentation threatening an endangered primate, the black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys (Rhinopithecus bieti). We selected the southern range of R. bieti as the study area, which covers 3,580 km². We evaluated the habitat status and formulated an SSS based on the dispersal ability of an adult male R. bieti. Six sustainable habitat patches and 340 natural stepping stones were detected. Thirteen artificial stepping stones are needed to establish weak connectivity of habitats. Forty-four stepping stones are proposed as key stepping stones for attaining strong connectivity. The SSS is projected to incur substantially less pecuniary investment than the corridor strategy (0.06 million versus 5.65 million, USD). We conclude that 5 steps are needed for the SSS: (a) assessing the status of habitats to plan restorative intervention activities, (b) designing artificial stepping stones to weakly link sustainable habitats, (c) proposing corridors to allow for a stable connection between sustainable habitats, (d) identifying key stepping stones to establish small protected area, and (e) recovery of fragmented habitat and reinstatement of sustainable habitat. Our study suggests that SSS is a cost-effective and practical way for maintaining connectivity and supporting habitat recovery for endangered wildlife in montane regions.