Previous research showed that habitat selection of the Giant panda was the key issues for the conservation of this wildlife. Based on the 13 years' filed observation data in Wanglang Nature Reserve, Pingwu county of Sichuan province, China, using the distribution frequency method and similarity index method, the yearly and seasonal changes in habitat selection of Giant panda were studied from the three aspects which including, topography factors(such as elevation, aspect, position, and slope, etc.), the structural attributes of forest community (such as vegetation type, mean height of trees and shrubs, canopy and coverage of shrubs) and the characteristics of main feeding bamboo (such as the species, mean height, coverage, growth type and states).
The main Giant panda's habitats and environmental conditions in Wanglang Nature Rreserve were as follows: the elevation between 2 500 3 000 m, with the slope of 6 20°, the distance to nearest water source >300m, well-grown secondary forest characterized by the coniferous mixed with broad leaved trees, with the trees mean height of 20 29m, the shrubs mean height of 2 3m, the forest closeness of 0.25 0.49, shrub coverage of 25% 49%. The main feeding bamboo of Giant panda was as follows, scattered Fargesia denudate, with the coverage of 50% 74%, mean height of 2 3m, growth well.
Based on the analysis of the inventory data from 1997 to 2009, the results indicated that: (1)Giant panda's habitat selection is changing with time and environment; (2)the curve of yearly similarity index of habitat selection and the similarity coefficients of Giant panda's habitat selection is close to 1, overall, the annual change of the Giant panda's habitat selection showed an steady increasing trend, especially during the period of 2000 2009, it indicates that the Giant panda will adjust its' habitat selection significantly year by year; (3)the seasonal similarity coefficients of the Giant panda's habitat selection are all between 0.90 and 1.00, the Giant panda's habitat selection in each season was very similar to that happened in the whole 13 years. This indicates that Giant panda will just make a minor and unobvious adjust on the habitat selection along with the seasonal change. This result can provide important references and scientific basis for the restoration and management of the Giant panda's habitats.