Result of a year-long animal survey in a state- owned forest farm in Beijing, China

Artificial forest can have great potential in serving as habitat to wildlife, depending on different management methods. As the state-owned forest farms now play a new role in ecological conservation in China, the biological richness of this kind of land-use type is understudied. Once owned by a mining company, a largest state-owned forest farm, Jingxi Forest Farm, has been reformed to be a state-owned forest farm with the purpose of conservation since 2017. Although this 116.4 km forest farm holds a near-healthy 2 montaine ecosystem very representative in North China, a large proportion of artificial coniferous forest in the forest farm has been proven to hold less biodiversity than natural vegetation. This situation, however, provides a great opportunity for ecological restorationand biodiversity conservation. Therefore, from November 2019 to December 2020, we conducted a set of biodiversity surveys, whose results will serve as a baseline for further restoration and conservation.

Automated summary

Artificial forests in China, particularly in state-owned forest farms, have the potential to serve as wildlife habitats. However, the biodiversity of these land-use types is not well-studied. The Jingxi Forest Farm, previously owned by a mining company, has been reformed for conservation purposes. Although the forest farm has a representative mountain ecosystem, the artificial coniferous forests in the area have been found to have lower biodiversity compared to natural vegetation. This situation presents an opportunity for ecological restoration and biodiversity conservation, as highlighted by a set of biodiversity surveys conducted from November 2019 to December 2020.