Analysis Of Habitat Change And Habitat Selection Of Red-crowned Crane In The Yellow River Delta

The factors which influence the water bird habitat choosing include moisture, food, shelter and disturbance from the viewpoint of waterfowl itself. The four habitat factors are dividing into several classes according to the classification methods of habitat choosing factors. Based on the remote sensing images and fieldwork, we get several habitat factor maps using ERDAS and ARC/INFO. The habitat maps are made by the union of the habitat factor maps.The habitat factor change in yellow river delta from 1986 to 2001 is analyzed with ARC/INFO. After the analysis of area, number of patches and the transition matrix, the results show that each habitat choosing factor has a great change owning to the disturbance of human beings. The changes of the habitat choosing factors reduce the quantity of waterfowl habitat in yellow river delta.Based on the Yellow River delta habitat map, the Red-crowned Crane suitable habitat map is attained by the RS and GIS. The article chooses a series of landscape indexes and the Rssto analyze on the change of the Red-crowned Crane suitable habitat in Yellow River delta from 1986 to 2001. The result shows that the Red-crowned Crane suitable habitat area is reducing and the fragmentation is increasing. Accordingly, almost all types of suitable habitat area is reducing except the type of suitable habitat where the disturbance is lighter, the seeper is deeper, the food is comprised of fish, the vegetation height is higher and vegetation density is denser. In a word, the quality of the Red-crowned Crane suitable habitat is declining mostly owning to the disturbance of human beings. The change of Yellow River delta is disbennifit to the Red-crowned Crane.After using the Variance analysis and frequency of the study on habitat selection of Red-crowned Crane, the result shows that the chief factor influencing the habitat selection of Red-crowned Crane is disturbance in stopover habitat and the food is the chief factor in wintering habitat. The Red-crowned Cranes prefer to choose the habitat which the water and food are plenty, the disturbance is lighter and the coverage rate is lower.The Yellow River Delta is the largest wetland ecosystem in China. Superior habitat condition is helpful to abundant resource which make the yellow river delta become the most important habitat for many water birds to inhabit and breed. This study will provide a scientific basis for habitat selection and protection of animals.