About two decades ago, a deciduous pine was introduced to Qinglin Mountain in western China. The intention was to recover the declining forest at that time, but now, the tree is threatening the natural habitat of the giant panda. Here is Shen Ting with the story.

Shen Ting: The southern side of the Qinglin Mountain is the main natural habitat of the giant panda. Now pandas there are in danger of losing their home to an alien tree: the deciduous pine, which originated in northern China and Japan.

The tree was first introduced to the Qinglin Mountain area about two decades ago. Because it's cheap, can quickly adapt to a new environment, and fast-growing, it was seen as an excellent choice to recover the depleting forest.
Zhou Lingquan from the Shaanxi Forest Bureau explains:

He says the deciduous pine grows very fast, and has a big crown. When it grows into a forest, no plant life can survive under its carpet-like shadow, be they bush or arbor. And bamboo, the panda's food, is no exception.

In addition, the deciduous pine reproduces very, very quickly. Its seed can travel via wind and birds, thus it rapidly spreads through the neighbouring area.

Zhou Lingquan says no one has envisioned the problem it would cause.

Zhou Lingquan says it takes about 20 years for the deciduous tree to fully mature. So now, these first seedlings have grown up into a mature forest, and the unwanted side-effects are becoming apparent.

When grown up , deciduous pine kills bamboo and other plants around it, giant panda not only lose its food sources, but more importantly, its habitat is cut into isolated pieces. This poses a great threat to the survival and reproduction of this rare animal.

Zhou Lingquan says although the problem is just emerging, immediate action should be taken to reverse the trend. The best way is to cut down the deciduous pines and replant the area with native flora and bamboo. He says it may take a long time for native plants to reclaim their home, since it's very difficult to clear the roots of all the deciduous pines.

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