Research On The Habitat Selection And Habitat Quality Evaluation Of Brown Eared Pheasant In Breeding Period Of XIAOWUTAI Mountain, Hebei Province

The habitat selection of the Brown Eared Pheasant (Crossoptilon mantchuricum) in breeding period in the XIAOWUTAI Mountain National Natural Reserve of Hebei province was studied by statistic method and the habitat quality evaluation was researched by AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) method and 3S (GPS, GIS, RS) techniques in this paper. The present situation of the Brown Eared Pheasant population and the major problems faced were analyzed, then how to protect them in a reasonable way was also proposed. The main conclusions were listed as follows:1. The spatial distribution of the Brown Eared Pheasant in breeding period was studied by the positions which were noted in field survey. The Brown Eared Pheasant prefers to select the conifer and deciduous-conifer rather than any other vegetation types in breeding period. The territory in the breeding period I (the mating period and the egg-laying period)was larger than that in period II (the incubation period and the nursing period).By comparing the difference of the 13 vegetation factors between the experimental areas and control experimental areas, it was not remarkable in 7 factors which are type of trees, density of trees, type of shrub, average height of shrub, density of grasses, average height of grasses and cover of grasses respectively, and it was remarkable in density of shrub and type of grasses. Through contrasting the difference of the 4 topography factors, the results showed that it was remarkable in altitude, it was very significant in slope and it was not remarkable in exposure and position of slope respectively. It was not remarkable in distance to water, it was remarkable in distance to forest edge and it was very significant in thickness of shatter, proportion of bareness and cover of shatter respectively among the 5 food factors. Comparing the difference of the human influence factors, it was remarkable in distance to path.In breeding period, the Brown Eared Pheasant selected the habitat environment which were in higher altitude (1946 ± 258m), steeper slope (near 33.95° ) and middle or top position of slope. They selected the territory with a sunny exposure in breeding period I , while selected that with sunless or semi-sunless exposure in breeding period II. By Stepwise Discriminant Analysis, it was demonstrated that the key factors related to habitat selection of the Brown Eared Pheasant in breeding period were thickness of shatter, cover of shrub, slope and proportion of bareness.2. Six key factors which were type of vegetation, cover of trees, altitude, slope, exposure and position of slope related to habitat selection of Brown Eared Pheasant were chosen based on the results of fieldwork and the present datum of the Remote Sensing (RS) image of...