Font Size: a A A

Habitat Selection And Evaluation Of Elliot's Pheasant (Syrmaticus Ellioti) In Guanshan National Nature Reserve In Jiangxi Province

Posted on:2011-01-17Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:J H ChenFull Text:PDF
GTID:2120360308976677Subject:Conservation and Utilization of Wild Fauna and Flora
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
During September 2008 and January 2010, we investigated the habitat of Elliot's pheasant (Syrmaticus ellioti) and compared with Silver Pheasant's (Lophura nycthemera), combining with topographic map and vegetation map, we studied on the habitat evaluation of this area with the ArcGis9.3 in Guanshan National Nature Reserve in Jiangxi Province.We analyzed the habitat selection of Elliot's pheasant by fourteen habitat resource axes. The results showed that the pheasant mainly inhabited in the broad-leaved forest, where is high-cover of arbor and shrub and high herb height, at a low elevation with a gentle slope mostly on the sunward hillsides in breeding season; And mainly inhabited the region with characteristics such as lower elevation, gentle slope, sunward hillsides, short-distance to water source, high-cover of arbor and shrub, abundant of shrub and herb species, high shrub height and the evergreen broad-leaved forest. The protection of the pheasant should be focused on protection of forest types in nature reserve.By eight habitat resource axes, we analyzed the niche breadth, niche overlap and interspecies competition of these two species, Elliot's pheasant and Silver Pheasant. The results showed that the integrative niche breadth of these two pheasant species was very narrow. In breeding season, the integrative niche breadth of these two pheasant species was only 0.382 and 0.427 respectively. in addition to resource-axes of slope, water and herbaceous cover, in the other resource-axes, the niche breadth of Silver Pheasant was slightly wider than that of Elliot's pheasant. Compared with Elliot's pheasant, the distribution area of silver pheasant was wider. The intensity of competition between the two species ranked as vegetation type, arbor cover, slope, shrub cover, aspect, altitude, herbaceous cover and distance from water sources. They paid attention to the selection vegetation resources in habitat selection, and the competition was the fiercest. In wintering season, the integrative niche breadth of these two pheasant species was only 0.268 and 0.294 respectively, indicating a narrow niche. On the resource axes of altitude and slope, the niche breadths of Silver Pheasant was wider than that of White-necked Long-tailed Pheasant, while on aspects resource axis, it was narrower. However, the niche breadths of two species were similar on all the other resource axes. What's more, the value of niche similarity of two species was 0.425 and the competition coefficient was 0.584, which showed an intense competition between two species. Our findings suggest that as to protect the two species in the nature reserve, as we should coordinate the inter-specific competition between the two kinds.Based on the resource selection index of each evaluation factor at different gradients, we determined the habitat suitability evaluation criteria for Elliot's pheasant with'the method of used-available habitat comparison'. We evaluated the habitat suitability of Guanshan Nature Reserve for Elliot's pheasant by the function of ArcGIS9.3 spatial analysis and index of habitat fragmentation. The result showed that, in breeding season, there were 502 habitat patches with the area of 3307 hectare, holding 28.6% of the total area of the nature reserve. The splitting index was 0.365 and the fragmentation index was 0.912; in wintering season, there were 514 habitat patches with the area of 2755 hectare, possessing 23.8% of the total area of the nature reserve. The splitting index was 0.443 and the fragmentation index was 0.939. The habitat fragmentation was serious and exacerbated in wintering season, which is the 'bottleneck' of population growth for Elliot's pheasant. We should focus on the protection of wintering habitat.
Keywords/Search Tags:Elliot's pheasant, habitat selection, habitat evaluation, Habitat fragmentation, inter-specific competition
PDF Full Text Request
Related items