Huanglong Mountains Nature Reserve, Brown-eared Pheasant (crossoptilon Mantchuricum) Habitat Selection

Brown-eared pheasant(Crossoptilon mantchuricum) is a world vulnerable and nation threatened species of pheasant that is native to China,and is listed in the first grade nationally protected animals of China.It is distributed in the Xiaowutai Mountain of Hebei,Lvliang Mountain of Shanxi, Huanglong Mountain of Shaanxi Provinces and Dongling Mountain of Beijing municipality.They are divided 3 isolated geogrpahical population which are respectively called by Middle population only including ones of Shanxi,east population including ones of Hebei and Beijing,and west including ones of Shaanxi because of geography barrier and destroy of nature vegetation.The brown-eared pheasant from Huanglong Mountain of Shaanxi Provinces lies only in Huanglong Mountain region involved in Huanglong county,Yichuan county and Hancheng city.Because the Yanan Reserve of the Huanglong Mountains(109°38′-110°12′E,35°28′-36°02′N) in Shaanxi Province has been bulit before long,lots of basic data were needed for pretection of brown-eared pheasant.Therefore,the further understanding of feeding-sites,noon-resting sites,nest-sites selection,roosting-sites and flocking behavior is essential before any managemen efforts are initiated by the resevre.And these may make up the blankness of habitat of west population.We have been carrying out on habitat selection of brown-eared pheasant with transect line methods in Beisi Mountain of Huanglong region for March 2006 to January 2007.There are some results as follow:From March to April,geographical,density of trees,type of shrub,density of shrub and cover of grasses were critically factors to discriminate the feeding-sites and random plots using discriminant analysis,the overall classification model developed from those five variables was successful to distinguish the feeding-sites from random ones at probability of 96.08%;Slope degree, slope aspect,distance to road and cover of trees were critical factors to discriminate the noon-resting sites and random plots using discriminant analysis,the overall classification model developed from those four variables was successful to distinguish the feeding-sites from random ones at probability of 75.64%.From April to June,density of trees,distance to water source,density of shrub,type of shrub,upmost height of trees and altitude were critical factors to discriminate the feeding-sites and random plots using discriminant analysis.The overall classification model developed from those six variables was successful to distinguish the feeding-sites from random ones at probability of 97.22%. Feeding-site selection of brown-eared pheasant was mainly related to food,concealment and water source.Furthermore,the noon-resting sites of brown-eared pheasant preferred conifer forest,ridge, half sunny and half shady slope,smaller slope degree,more far distance to trail and village,lower average height and density of shrub,lower average height of grasses,and bigger coverage of trees and grasses.And the results of principal component analysis showed that the first 6 principal components explained 74.05%of the total variance among all habitat variables.According to the absolute value of coefficient,the 6 components were classified as geography factor,sheltering class factor,human-disturbance factor and density of shrub factor.The nest-sites selection of brown-eared pheasant had a significant tendency by sampling method.Firstly,this tendency was represented on the scale of landscape.Secondly,it depended on vegetation structure.By Univariate analysis of logistic regression,the cover degree of shrub at height of 0.5m and 2m,density of shrub and distance to water source are the most important factors in the nest-sites selection of brown-eared pheasant. The brood size averaged 10.44±2.60,including adult pheasant(1.95±0.69) and infants(8.45±2.28). Brood habitat of brown-eared pheasant are characterized by the broadleaf forest,half sunny and half shady slope,lower and mid slope,gully,closer to water resources and trail,bigger coverage and type of trees,lower density and cover of shrub and grasses,heavier leaf-fallen layer and greater proportion of bareness.And the results of principal component analysis showed that the first 6 principal components explained 74.6%of the total variance among all habitat variables.According to the absolute value of coefficient,the 6 components were classified separately as an emergency factor of adult pheasant,an emergency factor of young pheasant,food abundance factor,sheltering class factor and escaping factor.During July to August in 2006,the habitat selection of brown-eared pheasant was also investigated.The Resource selection functions of the noon-resting sites is a log-linear model: Logit(p)=-7.222+1.442×DW-2.132×VC+1.862×CG+2.135×HG(DW:distance to water source; VC:visibility class;CG:coverage of grasses;HG:average height of grasses).From this model,we can estimate the noon-resting selection probability at P=e^logit(p)/(1+ e^logit(p)),the overall classification model developed from those four variables was successful to distinguish the noon-resting sites from random ones at probability of 94.7%.The model also indicated that the key factors influenced on the noon-resting selection were visibility class and average height of grasses, the secondary factors were the coverage of grasses and distance to water source.Then we compared with feeding samples between sping and summer using Vanderloeg & Scavia Index and Resource Selection Functions,the results indicated that the key factors in sping were lower altitude,gully, lower density of trees(＜5 individuals/100 m²),bigger diameter of trees(＞20cm) and coverage of grasses(＜50%),while in summer the key factors were higher altitude,slope degree(＜20°),higher hight of grasses(＞20 cm) and lower visibility class(＜10%).These showed that in the northern temperate region,the quantity and quality of feeding species have experienced great changes between summer and spring,hence the strategy of feeding habitats used by brown-eared pheasant varied with the season.During September to October in 2006,the habitat selection of brown-eared pheasant was also investigated.The results of principal component analysis showed that the first 5 principal components explained 74.069%of the total variance among all habitat variables.According to the absolute value of coefficient,the 5 components were classified as geography and grasses-vegetation factor(altitude,coverof grasses,average height of grasses,geographical and slope location), sheltering class factor(cover of shrub,density of shrub,average height of shrub and visibility class), position factor(distance to water source,distance to edge of woods,distance to human disturbance and vegetation type) and food factor(average diameter of trees,average height of trees,density of trees and cover of trees).The Resource selection functions of the noon-resting sites is a log-linear model:Logit(p)=9.162-1.605×VC-1.187×DS-0.757×CT-0.617×SD(VC:visibility class;DS:density of shrub;CT:coverage of trees;SD:slope degree).From this model,we can estimate the noon-resting selection probability at P=e^logit(p)/(1+ e^logit(p)),the overall classification model developed from those four variables was successful to distinguish the noon-resting sites from random ones at probability of 82.6%.The model also indicated that the key factors influenced on the noon-resting selection were visibility class and density of shrub,the secondary factors were the coverage of trees and slope degree.From November to December 2006 and January 2007,the winter habitat of brown-eared pheasant was also investigated.Population size of brown-eared pheasan averaged 7.17±2.86,and activitied in a stable home range.Slope location,coverage of trees,density of shrub,visibility class and distance to human disturbance were critically factors to discriminate the feeding-sites and random plots by using discriminant analysis.The overall classification model developed from those five variables was successful to distinguish the feeding-sites from random ones at probability of 81.16%.By using Line transects of systematic sampling,the wintering habitat model of brown-eared pheasan could be formally expressed as:Ï€(x)=e^g(x)/1+e^g(x),g(x)= 22.107-0.004×DW+13.623×CT -0.021×AH(DW:distance to nearest edge of woods;CT:cover of trees;AH:altitude).The model suggested that wintering habitat selection of brown-eared pheasant was negatively related to distance to nearest edge of woods and altitude,positively related to cover of trees.Distance to human disturbance,slope location,distance to edge of woods,altitude,visibility class,coverage of shrub and density of trees were critically factors to discriminate the noon-resting sites and random plots by using discriminant analysis.The overall classification model developed from those seven variables was successful to distinguish the feeding-sites from random ones at probability of 93.60%.The noon-resting sites of brown-eared pheasant is related to sunlight and concealment.The roosting-sites of brown-eared pheasant were characterized by sunny slope,and half sunny and shady slope,mid slope,slope side and ridge,lower altitude,closer to edge of woods and human disturbance,bigger density and coverage of trees.And the results of principal component analysis showed that the first 4 principal components explained 73.542%of the total variance among all habitat variables. According to the absolute value of coefficient,the 4 components were classified as geography factor, position and vegetation factor,roosting-tree factor and escaping factor.And we studied wintering habitat selection of brown-eared pheasant and common pheasant.Habitat selection of brown-eared pheasant and common pheasant showed a certain extent of overlap,while showed a certain difference.We suggest that the two species coexist in the Yanan Reserve of the Huanglong Mountains as a result of differential habitat selection associated with their species-specific anti-predator strategies.Common pheasant avoid predators by concealment whereas brown-eared pheasant evade predators by running as their escape strategy.And the altitude of their home range varied with seasons:highest in summer and higher in autumn,lower in spring and lowest in winter.The most likely reason that brown-eared pheasant preferred to live at lower altitude in winter is to have access to the abundance of food and shelter.In summer,they tended to appear at highest altitude,correlated with the distance to human disturbance and shelter.In spring,they tended to appear at higher altitude,correlated with the distance to water source and the abundance of food.In autumn,they tended to appear at higher altitude,correlated with the abundance of food.