Habitat Suitability Assessment Of The Eastern Population Of Brown Eared Pheasant(Crossotilon Mantchuricum)and Its Implication In Cortservation

Endangered species protection and research is a core issue of conservation biology. The suitable habitat destruction and disappearance directly threaten the survival of endangered species. The habitat loss and fragmentation is closely related to endangered and extinct of wildlife resources in the globe. Population growth, economic development, environmental pollution and overexploitation have caused lots of the wildlife suitable habitat destruction and disappearance. The primary measures for protection and restoration of endangered animal is strengthen the investigation and assessment and develop a plan of scientific and effective. The Brown Eared Pheasant is a rare species that is endemic to China. Base on the line transect and camera trap methods, and by the help of 3S technique (Geographic Information System (GIS), Remote Sensing (RS), and Global Positioning System (GPS)), we investigated the spatial-temporal dynamics of the distribution ranges and the suitable habitat of this species. In particular, we also investigated the impact from land-use/land-cover change on its distribution and suitable habitat. The main results are listed as follows:1. The current status and distribution of the Brown Eared Pheasant in Beijing is poorly known. To obtain updated information on its status, we selected the Baihuashan National Nature Reserve in Beijing and conducted line transect and camera trap from October 2013 to June 2014. Through the field survey we got 112 locations of their activities. We built three machine learning models (CART, Random Forest, TreeNet) with presence-pseudo absence points and six environmental variables (altitude, slope, aspect, distance from road, distance from settlement and vegetation types). The results show the importance rank of habitat factors of the Brown Eared Pheasant. The altitude is the foremost factor, followed by vegetation types, distance from roads and distance from settlements, and the slope and aspect came in last.2. In the eastern population of the Brown Eared Pheasant, which contains Xiaowutaishan National Nature Reserve in Hebei and Baihuashan National Nature Reserve in Beijing, we employed the Maximum EntroPy Model (MaxEnt) and 3S to model the spatial-temporal dynamics of suitable habitat. We built the MaxEnt Model combined with environmental factors in 1995,2006 and 2010 to deduce the historical distribution of the eastern population of the Brown Eared Pheasant. We also used the Matlab to analysis the habitat fragmentation and did GAP analysis with the two national nature reserves.The results show that the area of suitable habitat is 248.54 km2. Compared with 1995, the suitable habitat in 2006 reduced about 83.37 km2, accounts for about 36.9% of the total area suitable in 1995, and the new distribution area covers an area of 125.91 km2, accounts for about 46.8%. Compared with 2006, the suitable habitat reduced about 141.76 km2 in 2010, accounting for 52.7% of the total area of 2006. The new distribution is 121.02 km2 in 2010.Through the study of regional administrative boundary and suitable area of GAP analysis, found in three periods, brown eared pheasant in Beijing area is suitable for the area increased, in Hebei area is reduced.In the Beijing area from 1995 increased 64.68 km2 to 113.15 km2,2010, Hebei region from 1995 to 161.23 km2 fell to 135.41 km2 in 2010. Core area in the eastern population Brown Eared Pheasant habitat increased considerably, habitat fragmentation degree significantly reduced.3. The functional zoning of a nature reserve is the core of its planning management, and reasonable and effective functional zoning is the key and guarantee of the full multi-functioning natural reserve as well as effective management and assessment. Though the highest ROC value, we chose the TreeNet model as the best model. According to the model, the potential distribution area of the Brown Eared Pheasant is 34.86km2, making up 8.70% of the whole area Through the analysis of the GAP, it can be concluded that in the core zone, the suitable area is 17.75 km2, taking up 14.36% of the whole area; in the buffer zone,4.22 km2, taking up 5.42%; in the experimental area, the suitable area is 12.89 km2, taking up 6.41%. And the suitable area in the core zone in all takes up 50.92% of the entire suitable area. We suggest that the functional zoning of Baihuashan Nature Reserve should be improved in the future on the basis of the protection of the Brown Eared Pheasant and local economy.