Ecological Research Of Elliot's Pheasant In Guanshan National Nature Reserve

From October 2005 to April 2006, the studies on the types and characteristics of Elliot's Pheasant's habitats, the size of home range, winter dispersal and its factors were carried out in Guanshan National Nature Reserve, Jiangxi Province of China, using methods of radiotelemetry, sampling, GPS and SAW model. The results are as follows:(1) Elliot's Pheasant mainly inhabit in the broad-leaved forest or the coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest at an elevation of 300-800 meters, with a slope less than 30 degrees mostly on the sunward hillsides. In habitats of the broad-leaved forest, the dominant tree are the species of Fagaceae in tree layer, Theaceae, Saxifragaceae and Lauraceae in shrub layer, Cyperaceae, Dryopteris spp. and Liliaceae in herb layer. As for habitats of the coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest, Fagaceae and Pinus massoniana, Cunninghamia lanceolata serve as the main tree species, Rosaceae and Theaceae in shrub layer, Liliaceae and Dryopteris spp. in herb layer.(2) The size of monthly home range varies from 0.090-0.232 km~2. March and October serve as the biggest and smallest in the range of movement. The size of home range takes on an obvious increase in November and December.(3) Elliot's Pheasant do disperse in winter, and its dispersal distance is about 0.8—1.0 km with a duration of 10-15days.(4) Elliot's Pheasant has selectivity on its movement route when its dispersal occurred in winter. The variables of slope, distance to source of water, shrub coverage, herb coverage, leaf litter coverage, number of shrub species, abundance of shrubs and abundance of herbs differ significantly from used patch to unused patch. Four additional variables including tree coverage, number of tree species, abundance of trees, canopy height of shrub also are also quite different from used to unused patches. The result of analysis by Forward Conditional Logistic Regression suggests that the major factors affecting dispersal of Elliot's Pheasant in winter are the number of shrub species associated with food and the distance to the source of water.